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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28848618">Anomalous</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrsfizzle/pseuds/mrsfizzle'>mrsfizzle</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action/Adventure, Adventure, Angst, Communication, Cute Kids, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Foster Care, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Geniuses, Mentors, Reality Bending, Science Experiments, Science Fiction, Science Fiction &amp; Fantasy, Secret Identity, Summer, Summer Camp, contemporary</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 04:06:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>61,340</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28848618</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrsfizzle/pseuds/mrsfizzle</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>An eight-year-old boy who can bend the laws of science itself meets a nineteen-year-old camp counselor with a prodigious past. When a secret facility discovers the boy and tries to experiment on him, they must protect his powers from the world—and the world from his powers.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Shadow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Miss Elena, my shadow is broken."</p><p>Elena looked down from the ladder where she was straightening the <em>Camp Universe </em>banner. A red-haired, freckled boy looked up at her, bright green eyes wide with expectation.</p><p>She swallowed hard—the evaluator would be here any minute. Elena squinted to read the boy's name tag in the low light of the classroom. "Hey, Sam, maybe Miss Michelle can help you with the shadow box, I'm a little busy."</p><p>"But <em>you're</em> the technician. And there's something wrong with my shadow!"</p><p>Elena glanced back and forth between Sam and the door to the classroom. She hadn't checked the last of the camp decorations in the multipurpose room, and she hadn't had a chance to look in the mirror since testing the electrostatics demos this morning. But if there really was something wrong with the shadow box, it was more important for her to fix that. Besides, Sam looked really frantic. "Okay, fine. Show me."</p><p>Elena followed as Sam led her over to a small area against the front wall of the classroom. Red, green, and blue spotlights, carefully adjusted to the right levels, mixed to make white light on a whiteboard. Stepping in front of the lights cast multi-colored shadows on the wall.</p><p>A few kids stood waving their hands in front of the colored lights, some dancing with the background music and giggling as they watched their shadows step in time as well. "What's wrong, Sam?" Elena asked.</p><p>"The sign says we're supposed to have a yellow shadow, a magenta shadow, and a cayenne shadow. But I don't have a cayenne shadow."</p><p>She laughed a little. "<em>Cyan</em>. It's kind of like aqua."</p><p>"Well I don't have a <em>aqua</em> shadow. And my magenta one isn't trying very hard, neither."</p><p>She sighed—she had double and triple checked the color balance before class. "Go ahead and stand in the shadow box."</p><p>He trudged over to the whiteboard, and three colored shadows stretched out behind him. The yellow one was fine, but the magenta one was a little too red, the cyan one a little too green. Her coworker Patrick had probably been playing with the equipment. She knelt down to adjust the brightness of the blue light. "How about now?"</p><p>"Um, it still looks funny."</p><p>"Hang on, I can fix this." She dodged her way through the dancing campers to the light bulbs.</p><p>She picked up the dimmer for the blue bulb. Slowly, she turned up the brightness, then she turned back to the whiteboard, stepping past the dancing campers again. The light still appeared too red.</p><p>She set down the dimmers, straightened up, and looked back at the too-red whiteboard.</p><p>And watched it shift to blue.</p><p>She blinked—it must be some kind of afterimage, or her eyes were playing tricks on her. She needed to lay off the espresso. "Sam, do you see your cyan shadow now?"</p><p>"Yeah. But my magenta one is blue."</p><p>Not a trick of the eyes, then. Something was wrong with the dimmers—really wrong. She made a mental note to keep her evaluator away from the shadow box. She jumped to her feet. "Look, Sam, I have no idea what's going on here, and I have to go meet with—"</p><p>"Excuse me, are you Elena Holmes?"</p><p>Elena whirled around. A tall man in a full suit stood behind her, tablet in one hand and coffee cup in the other.</p><p>Her cheeks felt hot. "I, uh, yes." She held out her hand for him to shake before realizing his hands were full and pulling hers back.</p><p>"Dr. Baker. This won't take long. The sponsorship department just wants me to take a look around and see what you do."</p><p>She nodded, though her teeth clenched. She was supposed to meet him in the multipurpose room, away from the chaos of the campers.</p><p>"So why don't you just tell me a little about what's going on right now?"</p><p>Elena took a deep breath. "Um, so, this is our light activity lesson. I set up these curtained stations so kids can explore different light phenomena, and the other camp counselor, Patrick, covers all the tables and floors with tarp so we don't—"</p><p>Sam ran up to her and pulled on her shirt sleeve. "Miss Elena, my shadow is still broken."</p><p>She forced herself to smile. "Maybe you can ask Mr. Patrick—"</p><p>"Miss Michelle said to ask <em>you</em>."</p><p>"Look, Sam, I'm talking with a grown-up right now—"</p><p>"Oh, it's no problem." Dr. Baker hardly glanced up from his tablet. "Go right ahead."</p><p>She pressed her lips together. Her evaluation wasn't supposed to involve working with kids. She wasn't hired for that: she liked kids, but she wasn't good with them. Somehow, this didn't feel like the right time to mention that. "Okay, Sam, let's go stand in the light."</p><p>Sam followed her over to the whiteboard, and the kids who were already there stepped away and continued dancing.</p><p>She waved her hands—the cyan shadow was gone again. <em>What the</em> . . .</p><p>"Problem, Elena?"</p><p>"No, I just . . . for some reason . . ." On an ordinary camp day, she would have shut down the shadow box station and taken the equipment aside to be inspected, but she didn't want to have to do that in front of Dr. Baker.</p><p>Sam sat on the floor in front of the whiteboard, sulking. Dr. Baker glanced from Sam to Elena, so she took a deep breath and knelt down to Sam's level.</p><p>"Are you okay?"</p><p>"Yeah." He hung his head lower.</p><p>She started to stand, but Dr. Baker was still staring at her, so she turned back to Sam. "Um, what's wrong?" she asked.</p><p>"I can't do any of the science."</p><p>"It's not your fault, the demos are sometimes—" She winced. She couldn't say the demonstrations she had built were finicky, not in front of her evaluator. Besides, they usually <em>weren't</em> finicky. "Um, you could try something else. There's lots of stations."</p><p>Sam shrugged.</p><p>"Do you want to play in the mirror box?" That would keep him occupied while she finished her evaluation. Depending on where someone stood in the box, they could see four, five, or six images of themselves looking in different directions, or an infinite number stretching off into the distance.</p><p>Sam shook his head. "It's too crowded in there."</p><p>"Well, what if you went over to the optics station?" The largest canopy, in one of the back corners, held a table set up with optical equipment: light beams, mirrors, lenses, refractors and beam splitters. This was a space for the most patient campers, but it would keep him busy.</p><p>"I already tried. I can't get the lens to work."</p><p>Now she was starting to feel sorry for him. "Okay, well, did you read the instructions?"</p><p>He nodded and stood, and she followed him over to the optics station, which was all but deserted. "So, I'm supposed to put the flashlight <em>here</em>, and the smiley face stencil <em>here</em>, and the lens <em>here</em> . . . then there's supposed to be a smiley face on <em>that</em> wall."</p><p>Elena scanned over his measurements. They were perfect. "Hm. Can I take a closer look?"</p><p>Sam nodded, stood, and took a step back. Elena knelt down and lifted the lens, blew away the dust, and placed it back where he had had it. The smiley face appeared on the wall. "Should be working now." She picked up the lens and handed it to him. "Give it a try."</p><p>Sam wrinkled his nose and took the lens. He set it back in the exact same place, but no image appeared. He sighed, resting his elbows on the table and his chin in his hands. "Well, at least I learned something today."</p><p>"What's that?"</p><p>"I'm still really bad at science."</p><p>"Hey." Elena placed a hand on his arm. "You're not bad at science."</p><p>"Yes I am! I can't get <em>anything</em> to work."</p><p>Elena bit her lip. She could just make out Dr. Baker frowning out of the corner of her eye. "Hey. What if we went to take a look at something that works for everyone? You don't even have to do anything, just look at it."</p><p>Sam shrugged.</p><p>"Come on, let's go to the colorblind room. It's my favorite." The monochromatic room never failed. She'd had to place the black curtain very carefully around this section to filter all light pollution, and flooded the room with bright yellow light from a single neon sodium lamp. A neon sodium lamp could only produce one frequency of light, so anyone in the room was colorblind until they left.</p><p>Elena pulled aside the curtain and allowed Sam, then Dr. Baker to enter before she stepped inside. A few kids stood chatting with each other, their faces gray and their lips shiny in the bright yellow light. She walked past the bowl of jelly beans and the table of household items, heading straight over to a stack of posters.</p><p>She flipped through the papers to find her favorite. It was a picture of a candy shop with multicolored candies, and a caption that read, "<em>Find the blue candies</em>." In the yellow light of the room, blue was the most impossible to see.</p><p>"Here." Elena knelt down beside Sam and handed him a flashlight. "See if you can find the blue candies without the white flashlight. Then you can shine it and see if the picture looks different."</p><p>She left the poster in Sam's hands and stepped back to watch beside Dr. Baker. "Have you been in a monochromatic room before?"</p><p>"Of course," he said. "But I'm not sure this is a pure sodium neon lamp."</p><p>Elena blinked. "I tested the spectrum myself. It works."</p><p>Dr. Baker pointed to the poster in Sam's hands.</p><p>"I don't get it." Sam's fingers kept flicking the flashlight on and off even as he looked up from the picture to Elena's face.</p><p>Elena frowned. "The blue in the picture just looks black until you turn on the flashlight."</p><p>Sam squinted and cocked his head.</p><p>She walked over and knelt beside him once more. "Turn off the flashlight."</p><p>He did, and Elena blinked a couple of times for her eyes to adjust to the monochromatic light.</p><p>Her breath caught in her throat. The blue stood out as clear as day.</p><p>She'd seen this picture a million times in the sodium neon light. The blue was supposed to look black. It <em>always</em> looked black. She stood and tapped the sodium neon bulb. It must have been broken in some way, but she couldn't find the malfunction.</p><p>Elena knelt down to the floor and crawled along the edges of the tent, feeling where the curtain met the floor—a leak would let white light through, which might explain why the blue was visible. There were no leaks.</p><p>Sam's voice piped up. "Are you okay, Miss Elena?"</p><p>All at once she remembered where she was. She glanced up from the floor. Both Dr. Baker and Sam were staring at her.</p><p>She cleared her throat and jumped to her feet. "I'm fine."</p><p>"I think—" Sam's voice cracked— "I think I broke your demo."</p><p>"It's—but—no, you—"</p><p>He groaned and stormed out of the room. "I'm not good at science," he called back.</p><p>Elena started to go after him, but Dr. Baker stood beside the lamp, swiping away at his tablet. The evaluation wasn't over. "Do you want to see another station?" she asked.</p><p>Dr. Baker raised one eyebrow. "Do you have one that works?"</p><p>"They all—" She stopped herself. It was no use trying to convince him they'd been working earlier this morning, and last week, and all of last summer.</p><p>Dr. Baker shook his head and left the canopy, holding it aside for Elena. She took one last glance back at the poster on the table. The blue candies were black again. She breathed in to say something, but stopped herself. There was nothing to say.</p><p>"Why don't you take some time to fix your equipment? I need to send a message to headquarters. I think I'm going to stick around a little longer than I'd planned." Dr. Baker turned to leave the room before she had a chance to reply.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. New</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As soon as the last camper disappeared through the door of the classroom, Elena plunked down in a chair and buried her face in her hands. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so humiliated. Maybe that science fair in fifth grade when her pulley system had stopped working and her teacher had failed her in front of the whole class. But that hadn't been her fault—some other kid had sabotaged her project.</p><p>These demos were so <em>simple</em>. She <em>had</em> to be able to get them to work.</p><p>She trudged over to the monochromatic room first. She turned the sodium neon light in the colorblind room on and off, and she flicked on and off the flashlight. Without fail, blue looked black under the yellow light, and it looked blue under the white light. If Dr. Baker hadn't been there to witness it, she would have thought she'd just imagined the malfunction a few minutes ago.</p><p>She went over to the optics station, to the lens that Sam had tried. Its image shone in the usual place. Just to make sure, she checked all of the other lenses, refractors, prisms, and diffractors in the optics station. All fine.</p><p>Finally, she took a spare green light bulb from one of the supply closets to the shadow box, and she flicked on all three lights. The whiteboard looked a little too blue, but then she remembered that she had adjusted the color balance when Sam had complained that the cyan wasn't showing up at all. She readjusted it back to the levels she had set it to that morning, and the light covering the whiteboard was only white. She held up a hand, and she could see every color of shadow.</p><p>There. Every demo working perfectly. If only Dr. Baker were there to see! She had no idea where he was now.</p><p>The classroom door squeaked, and Michelle peeked her head into the classroom. "Hey."</p><p>"Hey, don't you need to be watching the kids?"</p><p>"Patrick's got it for the moment." Michelle lead Elena into the shadow box and sat down. "I wanted to hear how things went with Dr. Baker."</p><p>Elena let her breath out and pulled up a chair next to her. "None of the equipment worked while he was watching."</p><p>Michelle smiled a little, the smile she always wore when Elena was being dramatic.</p><p>"No, I'm serious. None of it. Even the colorblind room wasn't working."</p><p>Her smile faded. "Not working how?"</p><p>"You could see blue under the yellow light."</p><p>Michelle's eyes widened. "Weird! Any idea why?"</p><p>"No. It's working now. It just wasn't working while Dr. Baker was watching."</p><p>Michelle leaned back a little. "That is really frustrating."</p><p>Elena buried her face in her hands once again. "I just feel like a failure."</p><p>Michelle sighed and remained silent until Elena looked back up at her. "What did Dr. Baker say?"</p><p>"That I needed to take some time to fix my equipment."</p><p>"It's fixed now, isn't it?"</p><p>"Yes, but I didn't change anything!"</p><p>"It's weird, but it happens, Elena. Science is statistical. Equipment is finicky. Dr. Baker knows that."</p><p>Elena glanced at the whiteboard behind Michelle, casting her multicolored shadows in perfect balance.</p><p>Michelle stared at Elena for a moment. "What do you think is going to happen?"</p><p>"I don't know. I just don't want to have to leave camp."</p><p>Michelle let out a short laugh. "I'm not going to let you get fired, Elena." She lowered her voice. "And between you and me? Even if you did, you're a brilliant engineering student. We both know you can find a job much better than this one."</p><p>Elena bit her lip. If she got fired because she was bad with kids, that was fair enough. Because she had the wrong type of personality? Harsh, but she'd get over it. Because they didn't need a camp technician anymore? Painful, but understandable.</p><p>She could <em>not</em> get fired because the evaluator thought she was a poor engineer.</p><p>But it was more than that. Sure, she could get another job—maybe she should have found an internship that would do more to propel her forward in her engineering career. But Camp Universe was more than that. Camp Universe meant building things that wouldn't just be judged by her professors, but that would be marveled and enjoyed by hundreds of people, even if those people happened to be elementary schoolers. Camp Universe meant getting paid to travel the country in the motor home, with all the equipment and animals. It was the first place that had felt like home to her for years.</p><p>Besides, summer had already started. She probably wouldn't be able to find another job where lodging was paid for. She'd have to move back home, which meant she'd have to talk to her mom. She couldn't do that.</p><p>Of course, she couldn't say that to Michelle; Michelle didn't understand, she was always telling her to try to make amends. Elena didn't want to have that conversation again, so she settled for, "It's just, I don't want to mess things up for you."</p><p>Michelle leaned forward in her seat. "Look at me, Elena. You don't have the power to get Camp Universe shut down. Not even you could botch an interview that badly."</p><p>"Okay, but—"</p><p>"Did you assault anyone?"</p><p>"Um, no?"</p><p>"Did anyone get hurt?"</p><p>"No. Well, Sam was upset, but not hurt."</p><p>"Did anything even get broken?"</p><p>"Not exactly."</p><p>"You're going to be just fine. Hey—" Michelle waited until Elena looked up at her— "Dr. Baker's going to forget about everything when he sees the show this afternoon."</p><p>Despite herself, Elena smiled. She could feel her heartbeat slow down, the adrenaline dissipating from her bloodstream, and she couldn't hold onto her worry about what had happened. It could have been anything. Maybe it had just been a coincidence, or maybe there had been errors she hadn't noticed. Maybe Patrick had somehow messed with her equipment—it certainly wouldn't be the first time.</p><p>The door squeaked open again, and Sam sprinted over to them and tapped on Michelle's arm. "Hey Miss Michelle, that guy in the suit wants to talk to you."</p><p>"Well then, I better find out what he wants." Michelle turned back to Elena as she stood. "Ever been to the Golden Gate bridge?"</p><p>Elena shook her head.</p><p>Michelle grinned. "That's this Saturday's outing if we can get through this week. Take as much time as you need, okay?"</p><p>Elena nodded, and Michelle picked up her chair to put it away. Her moving shadows caught Elena's eye.</p><p>The shadow that should have been cyan was green again. The magenta one was red.</p><p>Elena stared at it, her heart pounding in her ears. The color shift was subtle, but unmistakeable for someone who knew what to look for. No one had changed the settings on the light bulbs—she would have seen them. Keeping her eyes on the whiteboard, she stood and reached for the dimmers.</p><p>Michelle followed Sam out of the shadow box, and a moment later, Elena's shadow shifted back to its usual colors.</p><p>Elena darted out of the shadow box and watched Sam lead Michelle head toward the door. Before she could stop herself, she called, "Hey, Sam! Could you come back here for a minute?"</p><p>He glanced up at Michelle, who nodded, gestured toward Elena, and left the room. Slowly, he stepped toward Elena. "I didn't do it. I promise."</p><p>She laughed. "You're not in trouble."</p><p>He let his breath out and walked into the shadow box.</p><p>The colors shifted again.</p><p>Elena stood. She went over and placed a hand on Sam's shoulder, leading him out of the box. The whiteboard was white again. She lead him back into the box. Too red again. Again, the shift was subtle, much easier to see in the shadows than in the light itself, but it was there, and it was definitely consistent.</p><p>If it was just an electronic malfunction, she wouldn't have thought twice. Electronics had a mind of their own, and besides, she was much stronger in mechanical engineering than electrical. But this wasn't electronics, not exactly. Somehow, something was affecting frequency of the light given off by the bulbs. She couldn't imagine what could even be causing that.</p><p>Maybe it was something he was wearing—weird glow-in-the-dark type materials, or fluorescent fabric . . . "Sam, can I try one more thing?"</p><p>He wrinkled his nose, but nodded.</p><p>She lead him over to the back side of the shadow box, so that he was right next to the bulbs, but not blocking their light. She stepped back into the shadow box and gasped. Off-color again.</p><p>"What's wrong, Miss Elena?" Sam came to stand beside her.</p><p>"Nothing, just . . ." She kept staring at the shadows. "Do you have anything with you?"</p><p>He reached into his pocket and pulled out a halfway-unwrapped Tootsie roll covered in fuzz.</p><p>"No, not like that—"</p><p>He shrugged, popped it into his mouth, and shoved the wrapper back into his pocket.</p><p>"I mean, do you have any electronics or anything? Like, a transmitter, a function generator—"</p><p>"A <em>what?</em>" he said with his mouth full.</p><p>She sighed. "Do you even have a phone?"</p><p>He shook his head.</p><p>She searched him up and down—she wasn't sure what she was looking for, but whatever kind of device could disrupt the wavelengths of local light sources probably wouldn't be small enough for him to carry in his pockets easily. Not that she had any idea what the device would be.</p><p>Maybe Sam didn't even know. And maybe it wasn't even a device. Whatever was happening, she had never seen anything like it before.</p><p>Her throat swelled up with excitement. She would have to look this up, maybe text some of her friends from her engineering classes, but she had a feeling they wouldn't have seen it either. This was <em>new</em>. She could be the one to discover it, to harness its effects. But what could it be? Maybe some kind of interaction in his clothes, chemical dyes resonating with—</p><p>"Miss <em>Elena-a-a</em>." He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, swinging his arms. "I'm sorry. I'll try harder and I won't touch your stuff. Can I go back and play?"</p><p>She winced. Of course, she couldn't keep him here and do experiments with him. With some effort, she nodded. "Yeah, go back to the multipurpose room. I'll be there in a minute."</p><p>He ran out of the classroom, and the illuminated board shifted back to its usual white balance.</p><p>Sam wasn't going to let her experiment on him. Already, he was quite over the shadow box. But the shadow box hadn't been the only demonstration that hadn't work around Sam, and she suspected it wouldn't be the last. She had the whole week to watch him do science experiments; she might even be able convince Michelle to reconfigure their curriculum to follow her experimentation.</p><p>One way or another, she would figure out what was going on. Because that was what she did.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Show</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The multipurpose room was buzzing by the time Elena reached it. The "Camp Universe" banner, along with the posters of stylized beakers, atoms, and galaxies still covered the worst of the mildew stains on the walls, despite three of the campers having tried to jump up and rip them down. The room still smelled musty, with a hint of weed, but at least it was now mixed with Clorox and Febreeze. By Friday, they'd have added the scents of smoke and solder, vinegar and formaldehyde, sugar cookies and slime. The smell of camp.</p><p>The best smell.</p><p>Some kids ran from one side of the room to the other, whooping and cheering, sending puzzle pieces and legos flying in their path, while others sat against the wall swiping at smart phones. Patrick, the other camp counselor, used the debris from the games and toys as a sort of a game, leading as many kids as he could coerce in congo lines in and around the clutter.</p><p>"Okay, everyone!" Michelle's voice called out. The laughter and chatter in the room died down. "Let's take a seat!"</p><p>"Hey." A voice right behind Elena made her jump. Dr. Baker.</p><p>"Oh, hi!" Her voice came out louder than she had intended. "Um, I got the demos fixed, if you want to see them."</p><p>"That's okay. I just had a talk with Michelle, and she asked me to stay for the show."</p><p>Her stomach turned a somersault. <em>The show!</em> She should have already been setting up for it, but instead she'd been playing around trying to figure out what was going on with Sam. She hurried toward the back closet, trying to figure out what she was going to tell Michelle.</p><p>Michelle came alongside her as she set up the lasers. "Do I need to postpone the show?"</p><p>"I'll just be a couple of minutes."</p><p>"That's okay. What kept you?"</p><p>"I'm so sorry. Got distracted by . . ."</p><p>All at once Elena felt ridiculous about the whole thing. No matter what she said, it would just sound like she had imagined the whole thing to cope with her own failure.</p><p>Elena turned back to Michelle, who was still staring at her. "I'm sorry, Michelle. I'll get it running as quick as I can. Maybe you can vamp for a few minutes."</p><p>Michelle nodded and jogged up to the front of the room, and Elena returned to her lasers. Her hands busied themselves setting them up as quickly as she could, but her mind was still on whether she could trust what she had seen with Sam.</p><p>She couldn't bring herself to drop the issue entirely. But if her own eyes couldn't be trusted, she would have to find a way to bring someone else into her experimentation. Dr. Baker was out—he'd just think she was making excuses—and Michelle had enough on her mind. That left Patrick, unless she wanted to take advantage of another camper. She clenched her teeth and worked faster.</p><p>The crowd of kids were all gathering to take their seats in front of the platform, where Elena had set up the materials for the show. Elena took a long look around the room. Dr. Baker stood at the back of the room, tablet in hand, staring at her. Michelle slipped out the side door to make her entrance. Patrick sat down in the middle of a group of campers. Sam was in the front row, slid all the way up to the edge of his seat, wide-eyed and grinning.</p><p>Part of her wanted to run up and move him to a row further back. Whatever he carried that had messed up the demonstrations in the light room might affect the demonstrations in the show, too.</p><p>Her stomach turned. There was nothing she could do about it.</p><p>Michelle gave Elena a thumbs-up and a smile from the side doorway, then she closed the door behind herself. Forcing herself to focus on the show, Elena checked her metal case, the box of extra equipment, and the mirrors one more time before she tiptoed to the back of the room. She reached out for the light switch beside Dr. Baker and flicked it off.</p><p>Several of the girls in the room screamed, which always happened when Elena turned out the lights. Elena hurried back to the metal case, felt for the switch on the side, and flipped it upwards.</p><p>The room filled with a booming prerecorded track of Michelle's voice over techno music: "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE OPENER WILL BEGIN IN TWENTY, NINETEEN, EIGHTEEN—"</p><p>The spigots on the edges of the case hissed as they spilled fog into the room. The kids scrambled closer to the stage, many of them switching places several times after they were down, as if it mattered.</p><p>"ELEVEN, TEN, NINE—"</p><p>Elena's mind kept wandering back to Sam. If he was carrying some kind of device, it had to have a maximum range, but she hadn't taken a measurement of how close he had to be to the shadow box to affect the colors. Maybe that was something she could do the next time she was with him.</p><p>On the final five numbers, the kids all counted down together.</p><p>Just after "ONE," red, green, and blue lasers flicked on and flashed with the music. Their beams lit up the fog and struck the mirrors just right, and the light paths multiplied into many branching, flashing, shifting paths, extending out to infinity.</p><p>The beat of the music kept rising, along with the volume of the kids' cheers, and Elena pulled her colored flashlights out of the box. She flicked them on and swirled them so their bright lights joined the laser beams. In the small room, it was enough to give an effect like spotlights.</p><p>Would the colors on these flashlights be shifted if she shined the light close enough to Sam? Or was it proximity to the source of light that mattered? Maybe she could check right now, if she swirled the lights over the campers just right. She glanced over her shoulder at Dr. Baker. Even in the dim light, she could see him staring at her, finger hovering over his tablet.</p><p><em>Not now</em>. She could do more experiments with Sam later, but right now, she needed to focus on the show. Michelle would be counting on her. Elena had already blown her opportunity to impress Dr. Baker, but this show was Michelle's chance to make a good impression, and Elena owed it to her. Owed her that and so much more.</p><p>At a peak in the music, the side door burst open for just long enough for Michelle to rollerblade into the room. Elena shifted the flashlight beams over to her, but she didn't need to—her face was well illuminated by the sticks of fire she twirled in each hand. Cheers escalated to screams as she took a lap around the room.</p><p>Elena wished she could see the look on Dr. Baker's face. If a single metal briefcase designed to control fog, lasers, and speakers with music timed to the lights didn't sell him on Elena's engineering abilities, he would at least see the value in Michelle's many theatrical specialties. He'd see what made Camp Universe worth funding.</p><p>Michelle completed her trip with a leap onto the front platform, and she skidded to a stop, her arms raised and the fire flickering, casting an eerie glow into the smoke around it. That trick always made Elena a little nervous, but they were well practiced—Michelle would be fine as long as Elena gave her enough light with the flashlights.</p><p>Michelle lowered the torches into a bucket Elena had prepared on the platform, and wisps of real smoke joined the clouds from the party case. She bent down for the little plastic tube Elena had left at the front corner of the platform and slipped the end between her teeth. She took a matchbook out of her back pocket and lit a match, holding the tiny flame a few inches from her lips. When she breathed out, jets of flames burst from the tube. Screams and cheers erupted from the crowd.</p><p>Elena let her breath out. The most dangerous part was over. She glanced over her shoulder. Dr. Baker was smiling—just barely, but still.</p><p>Elena kept the light from one flashlight on the stage, but now that they had succeeded in impressing their evaluator, she couldn't see the harm in using one flashlight to skim over the campers until she found Sam, still in the front row. Nothing had failed so far, though she couldn't tell if the beams were shifting in color when they drew near to him. She swung it more slowly, bringing it nearly to a stop over Sam. Too hard to tell: the beam was too spread out and divided among the campers' heads, she couldn't identify its color at all.</p><p>A lull in the cheering pulled her attention back to the opener. Michelle was waving to get her attention. Cheeks growing hot, Elena shifted the flashlight beams back to right around Michelle's face, just angled such that they would give her light but not blind her. She <em>had</em> to stay focused.</p><p>The last demonstration was a delicately balanced chemical reaction—gummi bears in test tubes of potassium chlorate. Correct proportions of the chemical would cause the liquid to glow, spark, and fizz; bad proportions would fizz too much or too little. A really bad balance could spray the campers with molten gummi bears, but Elena would pretty much have to mess it up on purpose for that to happen.</p><p>Michelle picked up the package of gummi bears and dropped one into the first test tube.</p><p>Nothing.</p><p>Still, the kids waited with held breath. Elena couldn't blame them—they knew something was supposed to be happening, but not how long it was supposed to take to happen.</p><p>Michelle set down the package, leapt to her feet, and shouted, "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, FUTURE SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS, WELCOME TO CAMP UNIVERSE!"</p><p>Their applause was scattered this time, and there were no cheers, only a few cries of "Aww!"</p><p>Elena's stomach churned—had she somehow managed to forget to refill the test tubes? The whole morning was a blur.</p><p>Elena set down her flashlights and tiptoed around the campers to the front of the room. Getting the reaction to work could save the show, and if she couldn't, it would hardly be more anticlimactic than it already was. She could at least try—she owed Michelle that much, since Dr. Baker might not have even stayed long enough to see the show if things had gone better in his tour with her.</p><p>Elena peeked into the test tube. The level of the potassium chlorate looked right, but the gummi bear just floated in the liquid as if it was water.</p><p>She let her eyes fall closed. It <em>was</em> water. It had to be—it was the only explanation that made sense. Maybe she'd managed to switch out the bottles in her stress over the evaluation this morning, though that seemed like a stretch. More likely, Patrick had spilled the chemical and hadn't wanted to let her know, so he'd tried to fix it by refilling the test tubes.</p><p>If it was water, she could fix it. She hurried over for the bottle of potassium chlorate at the back of the stage, and ran back to pour a bit of the chemical over the gummi bear. She wouldn't push it to the limit, but a little would at least make it fizz.</p><p>Nothing, again. She reached down for the package of gummi bears and dropped a second into the test tube, then a third. Still nothing.</p><p>How was it even possible that the chemical reaction wasn't working? She touched the test tube—it was room temperature—and picked it up out of its place, holding it up to inspect it from beneath.</p><p>That's when she became aware of the eyes on her.</p><p>Elena swallowed hard and slowly looked down at the crowd. Everyone stared at her, including Dr. Baker's. The techno music still boomed, the lasers still flashed, and the fog filled the air, heavy enough now to seem motionless.</p><p>Her cheeks felt hot. What had she been thinking? She could have left well enough alone. The ending had been anticlimactic, but it hadn't been painfully awkward.</p><p>Her gaze fell on Sam. His eyes shimmered in the flashing lights, and he mouthed <em>I'm sorry</em> before burying his face in his hands and running away.</p><p>The test tube in her hand exploded in a flash of light and sparks.</p><p>Elena dropped the test tube. She jumped back, just avoiding the splash of chemicals and glass, then she glanced over the campers. Most of them had ducked, a couple squealed, but none cried out in pain.</p><p>She let out her breath. At least there was no real damage done. She took one step toward the edge of the stage when a girl in the back row screamed, pointing above Elena's head.</p><p>The "Camp Universe" banner above the stage was on fire.</p><p>Elena froze. Michelle darted for the fire extinguisher beside the platform, Dr. Baker flicked on the lights in the multipurpose room, and Patrick ushered the kids back from the banner.</p><p>The foam from the fire extinguisher kept blowing the banner out of reach, so it took several seconds for the flames to die down. By the time the fire was out, all the remained of the banner was a half-charred, white-speckled <em>Camp</em>.</p><p>The booming techno music from Elena's case still played. Elena blinked and forced herself to snap out of her trance. She ran over and flipped the switch on the side of the case.</p><p>Aside from a bit of whimpering, the room was silent. Elena let her breath out and glanced from Michelle, who watched the kids as she put away the fire extinguisher, to Patrick, who held several of the kids under his arms, to Dr. Baker, who was looking down and shaking his head.</p><p>Elena exchanged a nervous glance with Michelle. She wished they could talk before going into their next conversation with Dr. Baker, but she doubted they'd have the time to strategize.</p><p>Dr. Baker stepped forward, between Michelle to Elena. "Can I speak to the two of you?"</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Fired</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After Patrick lead the students out of the multipurpose room in a quieter, straighter line than Elena had ever seen during any week of camp, Elena stepped closer to Michelle and Dr. Baker, though her legs shook. Her voice caught in her throat, so Michelle spoke first. "Dr. Baker, before you say anything—"</p><p>"Elena, you're fired."</p><p>For one second, Elena felt like her chest was being electrocuted, then she only felt numb.</p><p>Michelle's eyes widened. "Excuse me?"</p><p>Dr. Baker turned to Michelle. "Based on everything I've seen today, she's a danger to the campers and to the host school."</p><p>"This is an off day, but you don't know Elena like I do. She's a brilliant engineering student at San Jose State—"</p><p>"And clearly over confident in her abilities. Michelle, you're liable for any damage she causes. Is that a risk you're willing to take?"</p><p>"Absolutely."</p><p>Elena winced—she didn't want her boss to get in trouble for her. "Michelle—"</p><p>"Well, you're not the one covering the insurance," Dr. Baker said, "and I can guarantee you that our sponsorship department won't feel the same way when I bring them my report. I just watched her pour potassium chlorate over sugar until it exploded." He turned back to Elena. "Your services are no longer required. Please collect your belongings and vacate the premises immediately."</p><p>Michelle's breath caught, and she crossed her arms. "With all due respect, you don't have the authority to fire my employees."</p><p>"Elena clearly doesn't know what she's doing. You say she's studying engineering at San Jose State? You ever done a fact check on that?"</p><p>"Her work speaks for itself. I trust her. You don't know—"</p><p>"It's okay, Michelle." Elena took a deep breath—she didn't want Michelle to be looking too deeply into her past, either.</p><p>She would survive losing Camp Universe. It would be a rough summer if she couldn't find anywhere to stay and ended up having to return to her mom's house, and it might be years before she found a place that felt as much like home as the camp trailer. But Michelle was reacting emotionally to the situation instead of being rational, and if Elena didn't stop her now, Camp Universe was going to get shut down. Elena couldn't watch that happen to Michelle.</p><p>Elena looked Dr. Baker in the eyes. "I'm sorry for everything that's happened today. If there's any damage to the school property, I'm willing to pay for it."</p><p>Silence for a moment.</p><p>"So, I'll go get my things."</p><p>Michelle shook her head. Elena could almost see the gears in her head turning—she had to know that Elena was doing the only thing that could be done, but still she wouldn't give up on trying to figure out some other way. Before Michelle could say something she would regret, Elena turned to go.</p><p>"Wait," Michelle said.</p><p>She stopped, facing toward the doorway.</p><p>"It's going to take us some time to find another camp technician. Patrick and I can't run the camp alone."</p><p>"We can find you a volunteer intern," Dr. Baker said.</p><p>"For the next few weeks, yes, but not today or tomorrow. Elena will probably need to stay for at least the rest of this week."</p><p>Elena very slowly turned back to face them. It was her turn for the gears in her mind to spin at top speed. Faced with everything else—having jeopardized Michelle's job and her own, not to mention the campers' safety—the pain of losing her job and having to leave Camp Universe seemed to shallow. Still, she couldn't help but feel it. This was home, and an extra week was a chance to say good bye. "I'd be willing to stay for the rest of the week as a volunteer."</p><p>Dr. Baker's eyes narrowed. "I'll allow that, but I'll be observing again tomorrow. If anything like this happens again, I'll be escorting you from the premises."</p><p>"Understood." Elena's voice broke, but there was nothing else she could say.</p><p>Dr. Baker straightened up and turned to Michelle. "It was good to meet you."</p><p>Michelle nodded, and he left the multipurpose room.</p><p>As soon as the door shut behind him, Michelle placed a hand on Elena's shoulder. Elena's eyes stung, and Michelle pulled her into an embrace, whispering, "I'm so sorry, Elena. He didn't have the right to do that to you."</p><p>"You couldn't have talked him out of firing me."</p><p>Michelle let go and stepped back. "Not while that show was fresh on his mind. But I could have talked him down and held off any decision making until tomorrow. After he'd had a chance to cool off—"</p><p>"Michelle, all he's seen of me is my mistakes. Messing up all the demos this morning, the show this afternoon . . . I don't blame him."</p><p>"But that's not normal for you. What happened today?"</p><p>For a moment, silence hung in the air like the last few wisps of fog that remained from the show. Elena wished she could give Michelle some kind of explanation, any explanation, but without better evidence, anything she said was going to sound crazy.</p><p>She couldn't explain to Michelle what had happened. But maybe, with a couple more days to experiment, she could show her. She could keep an eye on Sam, figure out what was going on, maybe find a way to systematize it . . .</p><p>Elena pushed that thought out of her mind. It didn't matter. Being preoccupied with whatever was happening with Sam was what had gotten her into this situation in the first place.</p><p>"I don't know," Elena said. "But I do know we've left Patrick alone with the campers for long enough."</p><p>Michelle stared at Elena for a long time—she could always tell when Elena was hiding something—before sighing and leading the way out of the multipurpose room and toward the classroom.</p><p>The campers remained busy with their activities as Michelle and Elena entered the classroom. Elena locked eyes with Patrick for just a moment. Her face must have said it all. He winced sympathetically and went back to his work.</p><p>Elena paced around the classroom, half expecting the campers to shy away from her, but unlike Dr. Baker, they didn't seem to fault her for the disaster—to them, she was just another victim.</p><p>One boy sat beside the door, facing the wall, arms wrapped around his knees, facing the wall. She couldn't see his face, but the red curly hair told her all she needed to know.</p><p>She knelt beside him. "Sam."</p><p>He stood and ran out into the hallway. She followed him, and he plunked back down on the floor. "I'm sorry, Miss Elena!"</p><p>"For what?"</p><p>"For breaking the science!"</p><p>She breathed in to insist that he'd done nothing, but stopped herself. Maybe he knew more than he'd let on earlier in the day. "What did you do?"</p><p>He pressed his forehead into his knees and rocked forward and back.</p><p>She must have come off as accusing. She lowered her voice and tried to speak slowly. "Sam, has this happened to you before?"</p><p>"I'm trying so hard to not to."</p><p>"Not to what?"</p><p>"Break the science. Uncle said I could get better at science. He said I had to have . . ." He squinted. "Growth mindset?"</p><p>She nodded slowly. "Sam, science isn't really something you can break. You can do something wrong in an experiment, or you can break equipment, but that doesn't mean science is messed up."</p><p>"I know. It just means<em> I</em> am."</p><p>"No, no, just—" She sighed. "Look. I know some of the activities haven't gone well for you today, but I don't think it's your fault."</p><p>"You sound like Auntie." His voice lowered to a whisper, so soft she almost couldn't hear it: "She said I had demons in me."</p><p>Elena blinked. The kid was clearly going to need some therapy. But if his aunt had believed he was possessed . . . that meant someone else had seen what Elena had seen. Sure, they might have had a crazy interpretation, but they had <em>seen</em> things go wrong when Sam was around. Elena wasn't the only one.</p><p>Well, it was herself and a crazy woman. But it was a start.</p><p>"Sam, could we talk to your aunt about it?"</p><p>He grabbed her arm, shaking his head, his eyes piercing hers.</p><p>Footsteps down the hall. Sam whimpered and disappeared into the classroom, and Elena stood to see Dr. Baker headed toward her.</p><p>"I thought you were going," she said.</p><p>"Stopped in my car to look you up."</p><p>She let her breath out. She should have known this was coming. "What'd you find?"</p><p>"You're the girl that solved the Navier-Stokes equations."</p><p>She shoved her hands in her pockets and looked down at her shoes.</p><p>"Does Michelle know?"</p><p>"I never told her."</p><p>"You solved one of mathematics' unsolved problems at fifteen. It was a million dollar problem."</p><p>"So?" Solving that stupid problem didn't impress her mom, and the money hadn't been enough to save her dad.</p><p>"So you're one of the smartest people in the world. What are you doing working here?"</p><p>She set her jaw. "I don't work here anymore. Remember?"</p><p>"You know what I mean. How does a person like you end up in a place like this?"</p><p>"You landed a job as an engineer for Tech United and you're evaluating camp counselors at kids' camps."</p><p>"Camp Universe is my project."</p><p>"Why?"</p><p>His eyes flashed. "It looks good for PR."</p><p>Elena set her jaw. "You've got your reasons to be here, I've got mine."</p><p>"Just saying. Seems like an awful waste of a brilliant mind."</p><p>She didn't have to be polite to him anymore—she had nothing to lose. "Don't you need to get back to your company so you can come back and evaluate us again tomorrow?"</p><p>He let out a short laugh without smiling. "This isn't over."</p><p>Once he disappeared behind the corner, Elena felt her muscles relax and she leaned against the wall. The door to the classroom creaked open, and Sam stepped out into the hall.</p><p>She raised an eyebrow. "How much did you hear?"</p><p>"You're the smartest person in the world."</p><p>She grimaced. "One of them, kind of."</p><p>"You can help me. You can help me practice my science so I stop breaking things. Then Auntie won't be mad at me, and the bad guys will go away."</p><p>"Bad guys?"</p><p>"People are chasing me."</p><p>She sighed. The kid had an imagination, but she could play along. "What do the bad guys want from you?"</p><p>"To hurt me." He held up the palm of his left hand—it was red and blistered.</p><p>Elena gasped and took his hand. "Who did this?"</p><p>He shook his head and pulled his hand back.</p><p>"Sam. What happened?"</p><p>"You can't tell anyone. The bad guys will send me back."</p><p>She couldn't keep it to herself, either. Part of working for a kids' camp was being a mandated reporter—by law, she had to report child abuse. But he hadn't claimed to be abused, not exactly. She could take a little time to think about her next course of action.</p><p>"Please help me. I don't want to go back. Auntie said they might have to kill me if I couldn't get better."</p><p>"Who might have to kill you? Why?"</p><p>Sam wrapped his arms around himself and dropped his head, then he darted back into the classroom.</p><p>Through the cracked door, Elena could hear Michelle asking the kids to wrap up their activities. Day one of camp was over.</p><p>Elena stood slowly. Sam had entrusted her not to talk to anyone else about the situation, but she was in way over her head—she had to get help from someone.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Help</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The summer before had followed a slightly different model. Elena and Michelle had picked up a different camp counselor every Monday in each new city—a high school student. The student would work with them throughout the week, join them on their Saturday outing, and return home late Saturday night so that Michelle and Elena could drive to the next place on Sunday.</p><p>This was the first year they'd decided to hire a counselor for the full summer. Patrick was the perfect camp counselor, and that was the extent of his charm. The week before, he'd ruined six of her best demonstrations, and he'd almost crushed one of the pygmy mice.</p><p>But she couldn't blame Patrick for the failure of the demonstrations in the light room. She still didn't know what to blame for that.</p><p>Patrick—or rather, the chaos that always surrounded him—made Elena nervous, but he was good with the kids. Last week, his first week of camp, he'd known everyone's name by ten in the morning on Monday. She was sure he'd managed the same feat this week. Patrick wasn't one to pay much attention to science, especially when it came to being careful with her equipment, but he did pay attention to the campers. Elena hadn't been able to keep tabs on Sam every minute of the day, but maybe Patrick would have picked up on something.</p><p>If there was one person who she could ask about a camper, with hope of getting some information but without fear of judgment, it was Patrick.</p><p>The lunch break was always a crazy time. With no structured activity, the kids ran wildly around the multipurpose room. Michelle was always busy with food distribution, so Patrick and Elena were the only ones left to keep order.</p><p>A cry rang out through the clamor, and the noise level of the room lowered for just a moment as all eyes turned to stare. A smaller boy, probably no older than eight, lay flat on his back, the toy car that had tripped him still zooming across the floor.</p><p>Elena darted over to the fallen camper. "Are you okay?"</p><p>The boy pulled himself to sit up, blinking.</p><p>Patrick trotted over to where the boy sat and knelt down. "Sweet wipeout, Tyler!" He help up a hand, and the boy grinned and high-fived him.</p><p>Elena glanced over her shoulder and skimmed the room for Dr. Baker, then she remembered that he had called Michelle aside to talk. Her nose wrinkling, Elena turned to Patrick. "Can I talk to you?"</p><p>He nodded and followed Elena to the back door. "What's up?"</p><p>"Patrick, you have to be more careful with the kids!"</p><p>"Because of that?" Patrick laughed and shook his head. "I've got four little siblings. Kids don't break that easy."</p><p>"I'm serious."</p><p>Patrick glanced over her shoulder, then back at her. "This is about that evaluation?"</p><p>She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Michelle had specifically asked if anyone had gotten hurt while Dr. Baker was watching; she didn't want to have to change her answer to that question. "I did enough damage today. If a kid gets hurt, that might be the last straw for Camp Universe losing its funding."</p><p>"You worry too much."</p><p>"You don't worry at all!"</p><p>"Exactly." Patrick grinned.</p><p>Elena rolled her eyes. There was no use arguing with him about this, and besides, she'd come to talk about Sam. "Never mind. I need to ask you about something."</p><p>He grimaced. "This isn't about the circuit board in the other classroom, is it? Because I swear, it was an accident."</p><p>Her jaw dropped. "What did you do to my circuit board?"</p><p>His cheeks turned pink. "Nothing. What circuit board?"</p><p>Elena glared at him.</p><p>He scratched his ear. "So, what did you want to ask about?"</p><p>"One of the campers. Sam."</p><p>"The kid whose clothes don't match."</p><p>Elena raised one eyebrow, trying and failing to remember what Sam had been wearing. "Yeah, I guess. You notice anything odd about him?"</p><p>"He's, like, really smart. I told him we were going to make invisible ink, and he started asking all these questions about the chemicals and stuff."</p><p>Good—another experiment she could watch Sam perform. "Okay, but did you notice anything weird?"</p><p>"He's got some burns on his hands. Nothing really serious, just—"</p><p>So he'd noticed, too. "Not like that."</p><p>"Like what?"</p><p>She sighed—she should have known better than to try to talk with Patrick about this. "Never mind. It's just—"</p><p>"Actually, you know what, there was something pretty weird this morning."</p><p>"Yeah?"</p><p>Patrick stepped a little closer and lowered his voice. "I was filling in at the registration table while Michelle gave her opening speech to the camp, and we were down to a couple of kids on the list. Michelle was thinking they were going to be no-shows. Then Sam runs up to me, I mean I didn't know he was Sam, but he runs up and he's by himself. I ask him where his parents are, he just stares at me. So I just give him his name tag, he sits with the other kids, and next thing I know he's fine, he's pretty much a normal kid. Laughing and playing and all that stuff."</p><p>Elena shook her head. "Okay, that's not good, you'll have to talk to Michelle about that."</p><p>He smirked. "Yes, <em>Mom</em>."</p><p>Elena flinched. Something shifted in Patrick's expression, and he breathed in to speak, but she turned away. "I'll see you later, Patrick."</p><hr/><p>Elena hung back from the activities for the rest of the day. Jim already knew she had designed the materials, so her work would speak for itself without her needing to interfere with the lessons too much. The kids were as engaged as any group, and more. The demonstrations worked as well as in any class, and better.</p><p>The one exception was Sam.</p><p>The final activity of the afternoon was lighting light bulbs. Kids struggled with their batteries and wires, overheated the insulation, and one group even made smoke rise from the metal contacts. They fell into the same challenges and pitfalls as any group of campers she had seen. But Sam's lightbulb never lit up—at least, not while he was touching it. She watched Patrick tried to help him, but he ended up taking and lighting it himself. Then it worked.</p><p>She wouldn't have thought anything of it, except she could see how Sam was connecting his wires. It was flawless. Finally, when Patrick turned to walk away, the light bulb burned brighter than any in the room in Sam's hands without him changing anything about the setup. Sam didn't seem to notice anything was amiss—he and his lab parnter laughed in delight.</p><p><em>At least</em>, she thought with some relief, <em>he can't exactly mess up the planetarium show.</em></p><p>And she was right. The planetarium show went as planned, and Sam, along with the others, clapped and cheered. But it was the only thing that day that had gone as planned, and it was the only thing Elena had had no hand in designing.</p><p>When the time came for the kids to be picked up by parents, Elena stood by the door and waited for Sam's parents to come and pick him up, since apparently Patrick hadn't met them that morning. But she never saw them. Two of the other kids were roughhousing, and one fell. Elena went to help him up, and by the time she returned to her place guarding the door, Sam was already gone.</p><p>She stepped over to the registration table, where Michelle was busy at work sending campers off with their families. "Do you need me here anymore?"</p><p>Michelle's eyes met Elena's for just a moment. "Are you feeling alright?"</p><p>"Just wondering if you've got this. I didn't get to check on Winter at lunchtime."</p><p>"Go ahead. Catch your breath."</p><p>Elena gave her a slight smile.</p><p>"Oh, and Elena?"</p><p>"Yeah?"</p><p>"Call your mom."</p><p>Elena scowled, but she headed out to the camper.</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Call</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The camper was a typical bulky white motor home, with the beaker-and-gear Camp Universe logo on the side. There was a section for a driver and passenger up front. Their team made long treks between camp sites, but they took turns driving, so they each got to sleep for two-third of the travel time.</p><p>A chorus of rustling and squawking met Elena's arrival to the living area, and Winter, her Maltese dog, came running up to her, panting. Elena let out a contented sigh as she glanced around at the many animals in the camper. It was big for a motor home, but tiny for a living space. There was enough room for a little stove and oven below the microwave, a few wooden cabinets and drawers, and a single cluttered countertop, as well as a table and bench seats. Michelle slept in the back bedroom, Patrick had a hide-a-bed in the front, and Elena slept in a little loft built into the ceiling over the kitchen area.</p><p>There was a little storage space beneath the animal tanks up front for suitcases, without which they wouldn't have had enough floor space to walk without tripping, even without Winter underfoot. Three adults and ten animals sharing four hundred square feet for a summer with one bathroom and one tiny shower wasn't exactly comfortable, and the smell was pretty overwhelming until you got used to it. But waking up in a new state, a new city every week was more than worth it.</p><p>Elena had cried herself to sleep every night for the first week during her first summer, but then she'd lain awake for hours every night in her impossibly roomy dorm room the month after that summer was over.</p><p>She blinked a couple of times and kicked her shoes off, shoving them into their compartment next to the suitcases, and resisted the impulse to shuffle her feet through the fluffy beige carpet on her way to the refrigerator. She tore a few leaves off a head of lettuce, closed the fridge door, and unlatched the cage above the fridge.</p><p>"Hungry, Savannah?" Elena lifted the bunny out of her cage and placed her down on the floor of the camper beside the lettuce. Savannah hopped a lap around the camper before stopping at the lettuce and nibbling away at it.</p><p>Elena almost smiled as she made her rounds of all the cages, peeking in on each of the animals to make sure they were okay. The stacked tanks with the turtle, gecko, chameleon, and snake; the bird in the cage next to the window; the rabbit in the cage above the mini-fridge and beside the microwave; the three mice in the tube built into the upper edge of the room.</p><p>Nothing amiss in any of the cages. Normally, that would be good news. Today, it just meant she didn't have an excuse not to make that phone call.</p><p>She hadn't spoken to her mom in months. What was she supposed to tell her now? That she'd been fired? She could already feel the pain of her mom's lecture, without even hearing it. She could say she'd quit, but the thought of the <em>I-told-you-so</em>'s and <em>What-were-you-thinking?</em>'s somehow stung even more. A little voice in her head told her the best option was to lie, but she couldn't bring herself to do that.</p><p>She took a deep breath. Best case scenario, Elena would never get a word in, anyway.</p><p>The phone rang four times. "Elena?"</p><p>"Hi—"</p><p>"Well, it's about time. Do you even check your voicemail anymore? No, I guess that's not something your generation does, you never stop texting each other but you can't be bothered to pick up the phone. Not even to give your own mother some peace of mind. Where are you, anyway?"</p><p>"I'm in San Francisco, but—"</p><p>"Oh, San Francisco. A couple of hours out and you're too busy to come visit, with all your gadgets and pliers and—"</p><p>"I <em>am</em> coming to see you."</p><p>"Oh, well—" Her mom stopped short.</p><p>"Yeah. I'm not going to work at the camp anymore. Can I come stay with you for a little while?"</p><p>A long pause. Elena picked up Winter again and went to sit down on the couch.</p><p>Finally, her mom asked, "What happened?"</p><p>"I'm just . . . I'm not going to work here anymore."</p><p>"You're quitting? Mid-summer?"</p><p>She gripped onto Winter's fur. "Yes."</p><p>"No, you loved that job, you wouldn't quit. Did you get fired?"</p><p>Elena swallowed.</p><p>"What happened?"</p><p>"I don't want to talk about it."</p><p>"Gonna be a long summer if you're never going to talk."</p><p>Winter yelped—Elena had gripped onto her too tightly. She set the dog down onto the ground. "A lab accident. Some things caught fire."</p><p>"Wait, lab accident? I keep telling you those chemicals are dangerous! Are you okay? Is anyone hurt?"</p><p>"I'm okay, Mom, we're all okay. But I'm going to finish out the week here. There's a kid who thinks it's his fault, and I'm going to try to help him."</p><p>"Whose fault <em>is</em> it?"</p><p>"It doesn't matter."</p><p>Silence again, and Elena could hear her own words from two years ago echoing in her mind: <em>This is your fault! Yours!</em></p><p>"Mom . . . I know. But this is different. This kid—" her voice broke— "there's something weird about him. A bunch of my equipment, it doesn't work when it's around him. I'm going to try to figure out what's going on."</p><p>"Is this another one of your little science projects?"</p><p>"I hate it when you call them that."</p><p>"Do you think he caused the lab accident?"</p><p>"I didn't, but he does. And now I'm not sure."</p><p>"You think if you can get some questions answered about the kid, you can get your job back?"</p><p>Elena sighed. A small part of her still wished that that were possible. "I really just want to know what's going on with him."</p><p>"Accidents happen all the time."</p><p>"Not like this."</p><p>"Some questions weren't meant to be answered, Elena."</p><p>She rolled her eyes. "Okay, but I've got to try to help the kid. I'm worried about him. He might be in danger."</p><p>"What makes you think he's in danger?"</p><p>"He, uh, he told me."</p><p>"How old is this kid?"</p><p>"I don't know." He looked about eight, but she wasn't going to say that.</p><p>"You're going off the word of a little kid?"</p><p>Her teeth clenched. "Look, it doesn't matter, forget I said anything. I'm just going to finish up some things here, and then I'll come to your place until I can find another place to stay."</p><p>"Elena, I know you don't want my advice, but please, don't try to tackle this one on your own. You get too close to things, you let your emotions get away from you—"</p><p>"Mom—"</p><p>"—and if this kid really is in trouble, I don't want you getting mixed up in it."</p><p>"You don't believe me, do you?"</p><p>"Be serious, Elena. I never thought you should work in that camp in the first place, but don't go getting yourself into even more trouble. You don't sound like yourself, talking about that kid. You're too smart for your mind to go to waste just because you were upset about a lab accident."</p><p>"Is that all anyone cares about?" Elena jumped up from her seat—a loud rustling in the cages accompanied her outburst. "<em>Oh, you're so smart, Elena. You could do anything you want. Why would you waste your time on that?</em> Why does everyone else get to decide what's a waste of my time? Why do you even care?"</p><p>"I only meant—"</p><p>"There's something going on at this camp. Something weird, maybe even something <em>new</em>, but you know what? It's scaring the life out of a little kid right now. I'm the only one who can see it, I'm the only one who cares, and maybe—I don't know—maybe I'm the only one who can fix it right now. How is that a waste of my mind?"</p><p>For a moment, all she could hear was her mom's heavy breathing and silent judgement. "I don't know what to say, Elena. Maybe you're right. Either way, I think your father would be proud of you."</p><p>Rage blurred the edges of her vision. "Don't <em>ever</em> talk to me about Dad!" She hung up.</p><p>A second later she regretted it, but she couldn't have stopped herself. This was usually how their conversations went.</p><p>She knew she had overreacted, but she had had more than enough of people telling her how smart she was in an attempt to control her. If she was as smart as they said, she could figure out what she wanted to do with her life without them having to tell her which things were acceptable for a smart person to want.</p><p>She dropped her phone down on the couch, then plunked down next to it. Of course, that had always been her problem. She <em>didn't</em> know what she wanted, not if she couldn't work at Camp Universe.</p><p>Right now, though, she wanted to help Sam. And she would make that happen. No matter what it took.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Planning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next day, Elena hung back from the activities a little to watch. She told herself it was because she was nervous about Dr. Baker, who was hovering in every lesson, but the truth was, she wanted to be able to watch Sam without making it obvious that she was pouring all of her attention into one camper. Not that it mattered—she didn't have a job there, anyway.</p><p>But if there <em>was</em> any chance Dr. Baker might be considering hiring her back, her best bet would be to stay back. Dr. Baker already knew she had designed the materials; her work would speak for itself without her needing to interfere with the lessons too much. The kids were as engaged as any group, and more. The demonstrations worked as well as in any class, and better.</p><p>The one exception was Sam.</p><p>They started the morning with color-changing beads, learning about how UV light could affect materials. The kids at the front of the room were standing in a line, each holding a string with a handful of white beads that would turn pink, yellow, and blue in the sunlight, unless they put sunscreen on them. Patrick lead them out of the classroom to the yard, and Michelle and Elena followed them out.</p><p>Dr. Baker followed them a moment later, and stood watching in the doorway, still tapping away at his tablet.</p><p>Elena took deep breaths and focused on the kids. She skimmed the bracelets of blue, pink, and yellow, and she happened to catch a glimpse of Sam's bracelet. His beads had turned purple and green.</p><p>She definitely didn't remember putting in an order for those colors, and if it had been any other kid, she never would have questioned it except to worry she might be losing track of things. But since it was Sam, her mind set to racing for explanations.</p><p>Maybe he'd brought his own beads with him? That would explain it. It wouldn't explain what she'd seen yesterday, but then again, it was easier to believe one fluke than four. The failed chemical reaction could have easily been her fault. She could have missed something with the lenses, or with the shadow box, or in the monochromatic room . . .</p><p>No. There were too many data points. It was always when Sam was around, and never when he wasn't.</p><p>Sam pouted when he looked at his beads, then around at everyone else's. He clearly believed this had something to do with him being "bad at science." Elena didn't try to talk to him. She didn't know how to begin to explain to him how little sense that made.</p><p>Michelle gave a short lesson about UV light, then the kids went inside for snack. The next activity after that was lighting light bulbs. Kids struggled with their batteries and wires, overheated the insulation, and one group even managed to make smoke rise from the metal contacts, though they laughed about it. The campers fell into the same challenges and pitfalls as any group of campers Elena's had seen. But Sam's lightbulb never lit up. Elena watched Patrick tried to help him, but he ended up taking and lighting it himself. It worked when Patrick tried it, so he gave it back to them and told them to do the same thing.</p><p>She wouldn't have thought anything of it, except she could see how Sam was connecting his wires. It was flawless. Finally, when Patrick turned to walk away, the light bulb burned brighter than any in the room in Sam's hands without him changing anything about the setup. Sam didn't seem to notice anything was amiss—he and his lab partner laughed in delight.</p><p>"This one works better if I <em>focus</em> the science!" he cried. Elena made a mental note to ask Sam what he meant by that when she could get a minute with him while Dr. Baker wasn't staring at her disapprovingly—by the look on his face, he'd been so thoroughly convinced of her incompetence that he believed a finicky light bulb was her fault.</p><p><em>At least</em>, Elena thought with some relief, <em>Sam can't exactly mess up the planetarium show.</em></p><p>And she was right. The planetarium show in the dark room with the 360 projector went as planned, and Sam, along with the others, clapped and cheered. But it was the only thing that day that had gone as planned, and it was the only thing Elena had had no hand in designing.</p><p>When the time came for the kids to be picked up by their parents, Elena stood by the door and waited for Sam's parents to come and pick him up, since she hadn't met them that morning. But she never saw them. Two of the other kids were roughhousing across the multipurpose room, and one fell. Elena went to help him up, and by the time she returned to her place guarding the door, Sam was already gone.</p><p>Something was different about Sam. Maybe he was doing it on purpose—messing with the demonstrations. Maybe he had some device with him, hidden on his person, that was altering things. Maybe it was something Elena hadn't considered.</p><p>If Sam had really done something during the opener show, the fire wasn't Elena's fault. She could convince Dr. Baker of that. She might even get her job back.</p><p>Of course, her word wouldn't be believed, even if she did have evidence. She didn't want to put any more stress on Michelle. That left Patrick. Elena didn't love working with him, and she was pretty sure he didn't like her much, either, but she didn't have a lot of options.</p><p>During cleanup after camp, Michelle took some time to talk with Dr. Baker outside, leaving Elena alone with Patrick. She cut right to the chase. "Hey Patrick, what color are the beads from this morning?"</p><p>Patrick raised an eyebrow. "Is this a trick question?"</p><p>"No. I'm trying to remember what colors they're supposed to turn."</p><p>"Primary colors. Pink, yellow, and blue."</p><p>"Sam's turned green and purple."</p><p>"Weird." Patrick shrugged. "Maybe a manufacturing error?"</p><p>"Maybe. Except that none of the demos worked on him. I mean, none of them."</p><p>"Wow, poor kid. Well, at least he got the cool sun bead colors."</p><p>"I mean, I guess, but . . . all of the activities worked the exact <em>opposite</em> of the way they were supposed to whenever he was around. I could see blue in the monochromatic room."</p><p>"The mono-what?"</p><p>"The colorblind room. I could see color in it when Sam was around."</p><p>Patrick shifted his weight. "Whoa. That's super weird. Did you get to talk to his parents?"</p><p>Elena's eyes fell closed—she'd forgotten to talk to Michelle about that. "No, sounds like they dropped him off and picked him up without checking in."</p><p>"That's not good."</p><p>"I was just wondering if you'd noticed the same thing, with the equipment failing."</p><p>"Um." Patrick scooped up a pile of legos into a bin. "Yeah, I think I saw him struggling with some of the labs. He was asking me for help with the light bulb, and he was sort of sulking in the light room by the end of the class, so I had him work with some of the computer simulations instead."</p><p>"And those went okay for him?"</p><p>"I think so. Do you think he's messing up the labs on purpose?"</p><p>Elena remembered his frustration, his quivering lips, his innocent thrill at the sight of Michelle's other demonstrations and during the planetarium show. "No, I doubt it. But I think . . ." She chose her words carefully. "He's having a tough week."</p><p>"He's not the only one."</p><p>Elena almost thought she detected some sympathy in his voice, but she quickly dismissed it—Patrick wasn't really like that. "Well, I think we should help him."</p><p>"I agree."</p><p>"We should—wait, really?"</p><p>"Yeah. Camp's supposed to be fun for the kids, not stressful."</p><p>She nodded. "Okay. Great. So, tomorrow, when we do the labs—"</p><p>"I'll make sure to keep an extra eye on Sam, and you can help him out, too, since you know the demos better than I do."</p><p>"Great." Elena smiled. If Patrick saw what she was seeing, she'd know that it wasn't just a coincidence, and it didn't have anything to do with her.</p><p>She'd know that she wasn't going crazy. And maybe, maybe, she could prove it to Dr. Baker, too.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Better</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Elena woke up feeling surprisingly awake on Wednesday morning, and she vowed to herself that she would keep herself together. She'd done it for the entire summer before.</p><p>Once again, she didn't see Sam's parents that morning, but this time it was because she didn't stick around for morning check-ins. She checked the equipment for the afternoon activities exactly once, and forced herself to keep it at that. She didn't normally check it any more than that; she could double check things again once they started failing. Once Sam arrived.</p><p>She had to strike a careful balance with how much she helped Sam. She couldn't be too obviously focusing on him, though it would be considered acceptable for her to give him a little extra attention, since he'd been having a hard time for the past couple of days. And, of course, the worst thing she could do was act excited if his labs weren't working. Even if winning her job back was a lost cause, she still had to prove that Michelle hadn't been crazy in hiring her, or the camp might lose its funding—Elena couldn't bear to do that to Michelle.</p><p>Her chance came during the first activity of the day, during the invisible ink activity.</p><p>The invisible ink lesson had been Elena's least favorite when she first tried it, but it was one of her favorites now. The trick had been finding a recipe that worked every time, but that was last summer's struggle. She felt bad that another camp technician was going to have to learn it from scratch.</p><p>Kids sat at newspaper-covered tables in a different room than the one they would be using for the later activities. Michelle liked to have them cycle through the rooms so that cleaning could take place at the end of each day, not in the middle. It meant an easier morning and a longer afternoon, but it was better than the alternative.</p><p>Elena stood at the side of the room preparing extra chemicals. Someone spilled every time they did this lesson. It didn't stain, but it did mean she needed to keep extra materials available.</p><p>A couple of boys at the table on the far side of the room raised their hands as they finished painting their secret messages onto the paper. Elena picked up the heat lamp from the supply box and walked over to meet them. She held the lamp over one boy's paper.</p><p>The wet markings darkened, resolving into a steady stream of foul language. Both boys burst into laughter.</p><p><em>Great</em>. "Go show Miss Michelle."</p><p>The boy deflated, dropped his paper, and trudged over to Michelle, who was kneeling beside one of the tables and explaining how the ink worked.</p><p>Elena's eyes skimmed over the classroom. For this activity, it looked like she was going to have no trouble making an excuse to come talk to Sam. The "invisible" ink on Sam's page had already darkened, even without a heat source. That could happen if she messed up the chemical balance, but she was sure she hadn't, not today.</p><p>"Hey, Sam." Elena knelt down beside him. "Can I see that?"</p><p>He gasped and covered his paper with his arm. "I'm sorry!"</p><p>"No, no it's okay. I just want to see it." She reached for the paper.</p><p>For a moment he froze, staring down at the table. Then, in one swift motion, he flung the paper from the table. It fluttered onto the floor beside Elena.</p><p>She picked it up and stood. Other than a few specks of dirt that had clung to the wet paper, the ink was completely invisible.</p><p>She stared for a long time at the paper. If he had found some other way to heat up the paper, it was possible it could be cooled by now. Figuring out what source of heat he had used was another question, since his breath shouldn't have been enough to do it, unless her chemicals were off balance.</p><p>Maybe Elena had imagined it. It had seemed so clear, but had also only been in her peripheral. And, of course, if it had been anyone else . . . "Sorry, Sam. Here you go." She held the paper out to him.</p><p>"I messed it up again, didn't I?" He pouted and took the paper. "This one is different from the light bulbs one. I have to do the opposite."</p><p>"This doesn't have anything to do with the light bulbs, Sam, it's totally different." Elena kept her eyes on the paper, watching for the ink to darken again, but it didn't.</p><p>"Um, I'm done. Can you bring the heat lamp so I can see it?"</p><p>Elena nodded slowly, then she called out, "Hey, Patrick!"</p><p>Patrick looked up from where he was helping another camper.</p><p>"Can you grab the heat lamp?"</p><p>Patrick shrugged and went over to get the lamp. He held it out to Elena, but she said, "Help Sam?"</p><p>Understanding filled his eyes, and he smiled down at Sam. "Let's take a look at this," he said.</p><p>Patrick held the light up to Sam's artwork. For awhile—a long while, far too long—nothing was happening. Elena breathed in to say something.</p><p>Then the ink darkened.</p><p>"There we go!" Patrick smiled and went back to the table he was at.</p><p>Sam beamed. "I'm getting better at this," he said.</p><p>Elena gave Sam a reluctant high-five.</p><hr/><p>Elena hung back from the kids a bit during the density activity, since Dr. Baker had arrived by then—she was beginning to wonder why he didn't have anything better to do than to evaluate their camp. She was still working out an excuse to go check on Sam when he ran up to her and held up his plastic cup.</p><p>"Miss Elena, my density is broken," he said.</p><p>Elena's heart pounded in her chest. She knelt down beside Sam, looking over the contents of the cup. She glanced up toward the front of the classroom, but Patrick was already surrounded with kids on the tarp-covered carpet, and Michelle was chasing down kids who were trying to run around the room.</p><p>"Let's take a look at this." She took the cup from his hand and tried to mimic what Michelle would say if Sam had asked her the same question, though her throat was choked up. "Alright, so can you tell me what's supposed to happen?"</p><p>"Miss Michelle said the molasses is supposed to go on the bottom, then the corn syrup, then the blue water, then the oily yellow stuff on top."</p><p>"Good." Elena held the cup at eye level. The water was floating on top of the canola oil. It happened sometimes, if the camper poured the liquids in carefully enough not to disturb the surface tension. If it were anyone but Sam, Elena would have thought absolutely nothing of it. But with Sam . . . "Hey, Patrick, can you come take a look at this?"</p><p>Patrick looked up from his group of kids. He smiled when his eyes fell on Sam, and he came over to sit beside him. "Oh, look at that!" He glanced over the cup. "What's wrong with it?"</p><p>"The water is on top," Sam said. "It's not supposed to be."</p><p>"You know," Patrick said, "this just happened to Janie, too. Try tapping on the side of the cup."</p><p>Sam tapped the side, and the colored liquids began to slide past each other . . .</p><p>"Oh!" Sam said. "It's working now!"</p><p>"Nice!" Patrick grinned. He gave Sam a high-five, and Elena a bright smile, which she forced herself to return, then Patrick returned to the carpet.</p><p>Elena swallowed, looking over the cup. She tried not to be disappointed; this was just another data point. Yesterday's experiments had gone wrong, but this one was working. The only thing amiss was that the water looked a bit too purple to her, but maybe it was just a trick of the light. Still, worth a second look. "Can I see that?"</p><p>Sam held up the cup to her, but just then, another kid slammed past them, knocking the cup clean out of Sam's hand. The contents flew onto the floor, and the running kid's sneaker slipped on the oil. He tumbled onto the tile, his head narrowly missing the cupboard on the far wall.</p><p>Michelle stepped between Sam and Elena, facing the boy on the floor. "Are you alright, Jason?"</p><p>Jason pulled himself to his feet, nodding.</p><p>"Okay. This is why we don't run during labs. Mr. Patrick is going to stay back and help you clean up the mess." Michelle turned to face the crowd of now-silent kids on the carpet and somehow both raised and softened her voice to say, "Everyone else, it's just about time to head back to the multipurpose room for snack."</p><p>Elena was still cleaning as the kids filed out of the room. She felt like a monster for feeling frustrated that Sam was finally having a good time, but she still had no explanation for anything she'd seen over the past couple of days.</p><p>She sighed, dropped the wet rag, and sat back against a cupboard to find that Sam had stayed in the classroom.</p><p>"I think I can control it," Sam said.</p><p>"You can control what?"</p><p>"The science. It's really hard, and I can't always, but I think I'm getting better."</p><p>Elena shook her head. "You can't control science, Sam. It just . . . is."</p><p>"My uncle says it's different for me."</p><p>"Your uncle—" She cut herself off at the last minute. "I'm glad you're doing better today."</p><p>He smiled and left the classroom.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Faith</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The final activity on Wednesday was a lot simpler than the Monday laser show. It was a stunt that every great mechanics lecturer had tried. A bowling ball hung from the ceiling—or, as the case may be, from a bar that held up a basketball hoop—by a cable, free to swing in all directions. The lecturer would hold the bowling ball up an inch from her nose, and drop it, allowing to swing in a wide arc before returning to her face.</p><p>As long as the lecturer didn't push the ball, it was a safe demonstration. As long as the lecturer didn't push the ball, it would only have enough energy to reach the same height as it was dropped from, no higher. A good lecturer could hold still. Only the greatest could hold keep their eyes open the entire time.</p><p>Michelle did it every week. Unflinching, with a smile.</p><p>Elena had tried it once. An involuntary scream had escaped her lips as the ball drew within a few inches of her face. The ball flew towards her, fast enough to invoke fear, just slow enough to leave time for her to ask herself, <em>Did I push the ball? Did I push it? DID I—</em></p><p>And then it was over.</p><p>Elena asked Michelle how she did it. "Faith," she'd said.</p><p>At the time, Elena gave her a bit of a side-eyed look.</p><p>"Don't be afraid of that word," Michelle had told her. "When a nine-pound ball is flying toward your face, you don't have time to do the math. You trust the science, and you trust yourself. You have faith that you're safe."</p><p>"I <em>do</em> trust it," Elena had said, "but I still flinch."</p><p>Michelle had smiled. "My first summer working this job, I spent an afternoon dropping that ball over and over and over again, watching it swing back towards my face. You know what? It never hit me, not once, whether my eyes were open or closed. At some point, I learned to trust that the physics was going to work every time."</p><p>The bowling ball pendulum was always the highlight of Wednesday afternoon, and this week was no exception. The campers gasped, then they applauded and cheered as the bowling ball neared Michelle's face but never touched it.</p><p>Standing a few feet behind the circle of campers, Elena grinned as Michelle took a dramatic bow. She could just make out Dr. Baker in her peripheral vision, writing on his clipboard again. His expression was as blank as ever, but Elena couldn't help but believe he was impressed.</p><p>This demo wasn't Elena's doing, but he didn't have to know that.</p><p>"Okay!" Michelle stepped away from the pendulum, and the bowling ball continued to swing back and forth, its arc shrinking with each cycle. "Who wants to give it a try?"</p><p>A stunned silence fell over the crowd, like usual.</p><p>"Hey." Michelle crouched forward just a little, making eye contact with each child in turn. "I know some of you have been frustrated by some of the activities so far. Sometimes, you feel like things aren't working right. But you know what?" She grinned with an easy confidence that Elena could never remember having felt as long as she lived. "I've done this a lot of times. I can promise, it always, always works."</p><p>Finally, a small hand raised. Everyone cheered and clapped—except Elena, who froze.</p><p>Because it was Sam that stepped forward.</p><p>Elena's heart beat hard against her will. Michelle's words ran through her head: <em>It never hit me, not once, whether my eyes were open or closed.</em></p><p>The physics would work. Every time. For the kids just as well as it had worked for her. Physics didn't play favorites. It was <em>physics</em>.</p><p>
  <em>I've done this a lot of times.</em>
</p><p>Elena should have told her more about Sam. This wouldn't be happening if she had just told the whole truth.</p><p>
  <em>I can promise, it always, always works.</em>
</p><p>Michelle took her place behind Sam and held the bowling ball a few inches in front of Sam's nose.</p><p>Cold sweat broke out all over Elena's body. She took a step closer to the circle of kids, then another.</p><p>Patrick lead the final countdown— "<em>THREE! TWO! ONE!</em>"—and Michelle released the ball.</p><p>Elena watched the ball travel as if in freeze frames. There was no need to panic. This always worked. But then, so did the monochromatic room, and the optical lenses, and the colored beads, and the chemical explosion in the opener show . . .</p><p>The bowling ball reached its peak on the other side. It didn't seem higher or lower than usual. But hadn't that been the case for all of the other activities? They seemed to be working fine, until they weren't.</p><p>Even if something went awry, there was only a small chance that Sam would even stay in place. Most kids ran from the ball. Elena's gaze shifted from the ball, to Sam's face. His nose was scrunched up, his eyes were closed, his little hands were balled into fists. He wasn't going to move.</p><p>He wasn't going to move.</p><p>The ball was halfway up to his face.</p><p>Elena shoved her way through the group of campers. She heard but didn't register a couple of girls that tumbled to the floor. Her outstretched hands collided with Sam's head as she grabbed onto him.</p><p>The force sent him sailing sideways, but she kept her grip and fell with him. The bowling ball just struck her shoulder as she fell, no more than a firm tap.</p><p>Sam shouted and clawed at Elena's hands on his head. The cheers had gone silent, given way to gasps and whispers.</p><p>Strong hands gripped Elena's upper arms and wrenched her to her feet. Patrick ran over and knelt beside Sam, helping him up. His elbow was skinned white, the skin broken, though not quite bleeding.</p><p>Michelle's dangerously soft voice whispered in Elena's ear, "Meet me in the camper" just before she released her iron grip on Elena's arms.</p><p>Elena glanced over her shoulder just once as she trudged away from camp, too stupefied and numb to even rub her sore arms. She caught one final glimpse of Sam's face before she no longer dared to look back—his expression bewildered, but his features unharmed.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Fall</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Elena spent a long, long time alone in the camper. She felt like she should cry, but the tears wouldn't come. She sat stroking Winter's fur for a long, long time. She fed Savannah and let her hop around the camper, then put George—her leopard gecko—on her shoulder and cleaned out his cage. Tuesday evening's chore, but she couldn't bring herself to just sit.</p><p>One by one, she worked through the week's cage cleanings: the budgies, Kiwi and Honeydew; the rabbit, Savannah; but not the mice, because she had a few days ago, and too much cleaning stressed them out. Something about marking territory.</p><p>When she dared to crack the blinds, she saw cars and minivans driving by. She watched distressed parents and kids leave the building. This time, her eyes did fill with tears. Why did they have to send everyone home? Just because one of their team had gone crazy, even if they had assaulted one of the campers, they could just send her away . . .</p><p>It hit Elena like a bowling ball to the face. Michelle and Patrick couldn't run camp without a technician. And even if they could, the parents wouldn't send their kids back to a camp where one of the kids had been attacked.</p><p>But after everything she had seen, how could she have left Sam at risk?</p><p>The door to the camper swung open, and Michelle stepped inside. Elena slowly set down her rag and stood.</p><p>Michelle said nothing, but her eyes were livid.</p><p>Elena took a shuddering breath. "I—I'm going home."</p><p>"Yes."</p><p>A stabbing pain pierced Elena's chest. "And . . . camp is cancelled for the week."</p><p>"Yes."</p><p>She swallowed hard. "H-have you talked to Sam's parents yet? Are they pressing charges?"</p><p>"I left Patrick and the site host with the last few campers. Sam was one of them." Michelle looked down for a moment, then back at Elena. "He's been crying."</p><p>Elena's eyes fell closed. "Have you talked to Dr. Baker?"</p><p>"Not yet, but I can't imagine a situation where he doesn't recommend our funding be discontinued."</p><p>"Michelle, I'm so sorry—"</p><p>"Stop." She shook her head. "I want to know why."</p><p>Elena took a deep breath. She knew what would happen next. She'd make impossible claims about what she'd seen happen around Sam; Michelle would think she was either lying or crazy, since there was no way Elena could be telling the truth.</p><p>Elena herself didn't even believe it.</p><p>She didn't have a choice. She had to try, even if it would make everything worse. "You remember when I was telling you about how nothing's been working for Sam?"</p><p>"Yes. I was hoping he'd volunteer for this to cheer him up."</p><p>"But—Michelle, the <em>way</em> things weren't working for him . . . it didn't make sense. In the monochromatic room, the blue in the posters was <em>glowing</em>."</p><p>Michelle just stared at her.</p><p>"I mean, it's the monochromatic room. You can't see blue in it. It's not—it's not possible. But when Sam was there, I could see it."</p><p>Michelle's eyes narrowed, but there was something like curiosity in her expression. She walked over to the kitchen table and gestured for Elena to sit across from her. "Okay, so some weird things happened in the monochromatic room."</p><p>"It wasn't just that. Even before that, he couldn't get the lenses to work."</p><p>"What do you mean?"</p><p>"They weren't forming images. I mean, he had them in place perfectly. He'd step away, and the image would appear. Then he'd get close, and the image went away."</p><p>She paused for breath and waited for Michelle to say something, anything. Finally, Elena was forced to go on.</p><p>"There's more. When we were lighting bulbs, his was acting weird, too. It looked like the wires were all in place, but the bulb wouldn't light. Then it would, but like, at random times. And I still haven't figured out what was going on with the chemical reaction during the laser show, and he was sitting <em>right</em> up close to it."</p><p>"Hm."</p><p>"And you know how all those color-changing beads are just pink and yellow and blue?"</p><p>Michelle nodded.</p><p>"I could swear his turned green and purple."</p><p>Michelle's eyebrows raised. "Did you talk to him?"</p><p>"He said his uncle told him science works differently for him."</p><p>"Wow."</p><p>"Earlier today, most of the activities were working for him—I thought the invisible ink darkened without heat, but I might have just been imagining it. And the density activity worked, but . . . I just don't know what's going to work and what isn't, and it's <em>always</em> Sam."</p><p>"I see."</p><p>Elena winced. "I know, it sounds crazy, but—"</p><p>"No." Michelle straightened up and folder her hands on the table. "I think I'm starting to get it."</p><p>"You—you are?" Elena's stomach clenched. Now was the time Michelle would tell her that the stress of camp, the pressure of the evaluations, the distraction of knowing her job was at stake, had finally pushed Elena over the edge. Or Michelle would say she was lying to cover herself. At least now, Elena would find out which.</p><p>"Who knows what was going on in the monochromatic room? It's already a weird phenomenon, even if it always works."</p><p>"I know."</p><p>"And we can double check the beads. Maybe we're wrong about what we ordered. You could have just imagined the other colors, but I doubt that. Maybe he had some of his own. They're not that rare."</p><p>Elena bit her lip.</p><p>"The bulbs and batteries can be a little finicky. No surprises there. And the lenses—I mean, it's really weird that they were only working when he was standing back. But again, the lens only works when it's set up just right. Someone could have bumped the table or the flashlight—there's always an explanation."</p><p>"I know, but when—when it's all going wrong for one kid?"</p><p>"Exactly. That's the weird part."</p><p>Elena's breath froze in her throat. "Do—do you actually believe me?"</p><p>"Oh, I don't think you're making this up. And I don't think you're hallucinating."</p><p>Elena swallowed hard. "I don't really . . . I mean, obviously I don't think science really works differently for Sam."</p><p>"Of course not. But when every single activity isn't working for a particular camper, consistently, and you don't know why . . . you don't let him try the one dangerous activity."</p><p>The air in her lungs tasted sweet. "<em>Yes.</em>"</p><p>There was no anger in Michelle's voice, but a deep sadness in her eyes. "But Elena, you still assaulted a camper."</p><p>"I know."</p><p>"You could have said something sooner. Last night—"</p><p>"I know."</p><p>Elena squeezed her eyes shut. Of course Michelle wasn't accusing her of being crazy—that's not who Michelle was. All the more reason it would hurt to leave camp.</p><p>Michelle let her breath out. "Have you talked to Patrick about this?"</p><p>"Only a little. He just thought Sam was having a bad week. Before that, he just thought I was worrying too much."</p><p>Michelle let out a short laugh, and her smile held. "What am I going to do with you, Elena?"</p><p>Elena couldn't bring herself to smile. "You're still going to make me go home."</p><p>"Not exactly." She shook her head, her smile falling. "Camp is done for, so we're all out of a job for a little while. That gives us some flexibility."</p><p>"Can you help me with the lawsuit?"</p><p>"You should really call your mom about that."</p><p>Elena grimaced.</p><p>Michelle sighed. "Besides, Sam's parents won't file a lawsuit against you. They'll file one against me."</p><p>"Why? Because you're the director?"</p><p>"No." Michelle put a hand on hers and looked her directly in the eyes. "Because it was my fault. I pushed the bowling ball, just a little bit. Sam was in real danger. You were the only one who noticed, and you saved him."</p><p>"But you—"</p><p>"Elena. Trust me and don't argue." Michelle stood from the table. "Come on. We need to go apologize to Sam."</p><p>Elena pushed in her chair. She couldn't let Michelle take the fall from her. She was the one who had jumped at shadows, withheld information, and hurt Sam.</p><p>Michelle could move on with her life after losing Camp Universe; Elena didn't have anything else. If someone had to go to prison, it should be her.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Perturbations</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Elena's insides still felt like wet concrete as they stepped back into the multipurpose room. Patrick sat beside Sam, whose eyes were red and puffy. Dr. Baker stood off in a corner, no longer tapping on his tablet, but talking on his phone.</p><p>"Hey." Michelle knelt down to Sam's level. "How's your elbow?"</p><p>Sam lifted his arm to show her—a bandaid covered in superheroes patched the scrape.</p><p>"Hey, that's cool! Sam, I've brought my friend Elena over, but I have something to tell you before you get upset with her."</p><p>"I'm not upset with her."</p><p>Michelle smiled sadly. "Well, I'm glad, but—"</p><p>Elena knelt down before Michelle could speak. "I'm so sorry, Sam. I thought Michelle might have messed up the demo, but she didn't. She never messes up the demos. This is my fault."</p><p>"No 's not." He sniffled and rubbed his elbow.</p><p>"Yes it is. I didn't need to push you."</p><p>"I woulda messed up the science."</p><p>"No." Elena kept her voice firm. "This is my fault."</p><p>Michelle glared at her, but she just smiled a little. That was that. Elena awkwardly patted Sam on the arm. "Your parents are going to be here soon, okay?"</p><p>His eyes widened, and his cheeks turned white. "H-how did you get their number?"</p><p>"We have all the parents' numbers on the registration sheets. I had to leave a message for your mom, but she'll call back soon."</p><p>As if in response, Michelle's phone buzzed against the plastic table.</p><p>"I'll bet that's her." She tapped the screen. "Camp Universe, this is Michelle."</p><p>The volume on Michelle's phone was up high enough that Elena could just make out the words: "<em>Hello, this is Cynthia Pierre. I'm Samuel's mom.</em>"</p><p>"Hi Mrs. Pierre. Thanks for calling me back."</p><p>"<em>I just got your message, and I wanted to call and apologize.</em>"</p><p>"Oh, well, he's—"</p><p>"<em>I should have called you yesterday. Samuel was feeling sick this weekend. At first it was just a cough, but by Sunday night he was running a fever, and Monday morning he was in the bathroom throwing up. He really wanted to come to camp, but he just wasn't feeling well enough.</em>"</p><p>"Well, he seems—"</p><p>"<em>So yeah, I decided it would be better if he wasn't around the other kids, I didn't want them to get sick. We're keeping him home for now, maybe he can come in later this week—though I guess, your message said there was some kind of incident?</em>"</p><p>"Um . . ." Michelle blinked a couple of times. "Well. It doesn't look like we're going to continue camp this week."</p><p>"<em>Oh, that's too bad. Well, anyway, I should have called sooner. Sorry about that, I hope everything works out alright</em>."</p><p>Michelle's face had turned an ashy pale.</p><p>"<em>Hello?</em>"</p><p>"Um . . . so Sam's been home with you all week?"</p><p>"<em>In bed, poor thing.</em>"</p><p>"Where is he right now?"</p><p>A pause. "<em>On the couch, actually. I'm sitting next to him.</em>"</p><p>Michelle's eyes flicked from Elena, to Patrick, to Sam. "Thank you for your time, Mrs. Pierre." She lowered the phone from her ear and touched the button to end the call.</p><p>Elena buried her face in her hands. She should have said something. Should have spoken up as soon as she realized something was off.</p><p>Michelle turned to Sam, and the look on her face was much like the one she had worn when she had approached Elena about the assault. "Young man, I think you have some explaining to do."</p><p>Sam's lower lip quivered, then he buried his face in his knees and sobbed.</p><p>Michelle's expression softened, and she half smile at Patrick. <em>Your turn,</em> she mouthed, and she walked over to stand by Dr. Baker.</p><p>Elena remained a few steps away as Patrick knelt down to Sam and placed an arm around his shoulders.</p><p>"Hey buddy, we're not upset with you." He looked up at Elena. "Right?"</p><p>Elena stammered. "Uh—right." She sat down on the other side of Sam, but a few inches further away. "We just want to make sure you're safe."</p><p>He sat up with his hands covering his face and peeked out through his fingers.</p><p>"Maybe you tell us your name?"</p><p>He said something, but</p><p>"It's—it's Planck."</p><p>"Planck?"</p><p>He nodded, his face still covered by his hands. "But I don't like it. You can call me Sam if you want. You guys have been so nice to me."</p><p>Elena and Patrick exchanged a glance. Elena cleared her throat. "What's your last name, Pl—um, Sam?"</p><p>He finally lowered his hands. "I don't have one. I mean, my social worker said I had one, but then it changed, then it changed again, but my new parents didn't want me to use theirs . . ."</p><p>"It's okay, it's okay." Patrick squeezed his shoulder.</p><p>It sounded like he'd been tossed from home to home. "Were you in foster care?"</p><p>He grabbed onto the hem of Elena's t-shirt, and his gray eyes pierced hers. "Please don't send me back!"</p><p>"I—okay, okay." She placed her fingers on the backs of his hands, and they released her shirt. "I need to talk to Miss Michelle and Dr. Baker, okay?"</p><p>Patrick nodded, and they both stood, leaving Sam and approaching Michelle and Dr. Baker.</p><p>"He's an escaped foster kid," Elena said.</p><p>Dr. Baker raised his eyebrows. "Don't you usually meet the parents on the first day of camp?"</p><p>"He ran in just as a car pulled away," Patrick said. "Camp was starting. I just figured I'd see his parents at the end of the day."</p><p>"And his name just happened to be the name of one of the missing campers?" Michelle asked.</p><p>Patrick winced. "No. There were only two kids left on the list, so I asked which of them he was. I guess he just picked one of the names."</p><p>Dr. Baker turned to Michelle. "Are you aware of any other time this has happened?"</p><p>"I can assure you it has not."</p><p>He slipped his phone into his pocket. "I'll be honest, Michelle. I've read the reports on this camp, seen the reviews. This week is nothing like I've heard."</p><p>"This week is nothing like we've ever experienced." Michelle turned to Elena. "You need to tell him what you've been seeing."</p><p>Dr. Baker turned to Elena, his expression as skeptical as ever.</p><p>Elena felt her limbs tense and cringe. "There is something <em>weird</em> about this kid."</p><p>"How so?"</p><p>"I know you don't think much of me as a person, but you work at a tech company, so I know you know science."</p><p>He straightened up a bit, almost imperceptibly.</p><p>"All of the demos we do at this camp show the science in its simplest and clearest form. Yes, I designed them and put together the equipment, but I can't claim the credit for how amazing they are. It's science. I didn't make it shine. It just does. And it works for everyone."</p><p>For the first time, she saw the hints of a smile playing with the corners of his mouth.</p><p>"But for Sam . . ." She shook her head. "I don't know. For some reason, none of them work for him."</p><p>"What do you mean, none of them work?"</p><p>Elena felt the same squirming inside that she had felt the night before. The stories would sound ridiculous, especially to Dr. Baker, who had never experienced the chaos of camp before. But keeping silent about the weird things she'd seen was the reason they were in this situation now.</p><p>So she forced herself to recount the things she'd seen. She started with the ones Dr. Baker had seen along with her, the colorblind room and the lens, then she talked about the light bulbs, and the chemical reaction.</p><p>His smile faded as soon as she began her story, and his face remained as blank as ever throughout her speech.</p><p>"I know, it sounds crazy," she said. "But I think that's because it is. I still don't know why this is happening, but things just weren't working for him. I wasn't going to stand by while he tried the only potentially dangerous activity at this camp."</p><p>Dr. Baker just stared at her for awhile while her heart threatened to leap out through her throat. Then he left his corner.</p><p>He walked over to the registration table and set down his clipboard, rifled through the papers one more time.</p><p>He turned to face her. Here it came. "I don't think Sam was in any danger during the bowling ball pendulum, Elena."</p><p>She tried to swallow, but she couldn't. "I know, I—"</p><p>"The demos that didn't work yesterday were the, um, the colorblind room, the lenses, the light bulbs . . . did I miss any?"</p><p>"That chemical reaction in the laser show."</p><p>He shook his head. "Nah, that one's not part of this. Patrick was playing with your chemicals while your back was turned." Dr. Baker looked at Michelle. "You're right, he's good with the kids, but he's a bit of a loose cannon. Keep an eye on that one."</p><p>Elena's jaw dropped. <em>Patrick</em> had ruined the first explosion? She shouldn't have been surprised, but she could have killed him. She glared at Patrick while his face turned bright red.</p><p>"I'm assuming the density activity worked for him?"</p><p>"How did you know?"</p><p>"Were there any others that didn't?" Dr. Baker asked.</p><p>Elena and Michelle exchanged a glance, and Elena took a deep breath. "Um, not really. The kids were playing with multicolored beads, and I thought Sam's were a different color—"</p><p>"Well, that does fit the pattern."</p><p>"The—what pattern?"</p><p>Dr. Baker looked her in the eyes, but it felt more like he was looking through her. "They're all light demos."</p><p>Elena's voice caught in her throat. She didn't even believe herself, Michelle only barely did, but <em>Dr. Baker</em>—-her enemy would be the one to save her. "So you actually believe there's something weird going on?"</p><p>"Oh, definitely. I was only supposed to stick around long enough to see if the camp was worth funding. I drew my conclusions there in the first hour. But the physical perturbations—those were worth the stay to see."</p><p>Elena blinked. "So . . ." She almost couldn't bring herself to say the words. "I'm not fired?"</p><p>He sucked in his breath through his teeth. "Not sure I can go that far yet. Let's figure out what to do with the kid. Maybe there are people looking for him, but maybe not."</p><p>"We need to call the police," Michelle said.</p><p>"I'll take care of that. Either way, I'm going to need to take you all back to headquarters. My bosses are going to want to hear your stories directly. I assume you don't have anything else to be for the next few days."</p><p>Elena shook her head and looked to Michelle. Usually so calm and unfazed, Michelle's cheeks were white, and she appeared to be winded.</p><p>"No," Elena finally said. "We'll pack up camp."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Needs</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dr. Baker left the building with his cell phone to his ear, Michelle began to tear down the banners, and Elena went to help her.</p><p>"No," Michelle said. "You should go talk to Sam. Trust me, Patrick could use a second person."</p><p>"Why me? I pushed him away from the bowling ball."</p><p>"Yeah, but he's not mad at you. He's scared of me, not you."</p><p>Elena couldn't understand how anyone could be scared of Michelle—unless they had seen her angry, of course, but Sam hadn't. "That's not fair, though. I'm the one who pushed him to the ground. We didn't even use your cover story."</p><p>"Doesn't matter. He's scared because I'm the one who broke his trust by dropping the bowling ball."</p><p>"But—but that doesn't make any sense."</p><p>Michelle lowered the poster she'd been holding and turned to Elena, smiling but with a bit of sadness in her eyes. "Fear is an emotion. It doesn't have to make sense. Especially a child's fear."</p><p>She groaned. "This is why I'm not good with kids."</p><p>"You like science because it works every time and you can control the outcomes."</p><p><em>Those were the days</em>.</p><p>Michelle put a hand on her shoulder, pushing gently. "Go talk to the kid. It'll be good for both of you."</p><p>That was a direct order. Elena shuffled her feet just slightly on the way over to where Patrick and Sam sat, and she sat down across from them.</p><p>"Hey, um, Sam." She bit her tongue. "Or . . . Planck, right? You're sure you're okay with us calling you Sam? I mean, it doesn't even sound like Planck."</p><p>He wrinkled his nose. "No one nice calls me Planck."</p><p>Elena looked to Patrick, who winced. "Okay. Sam, then."</p><p>Patrick nudged Sam's shoulder. "Tell Miss Elena what you told me."</p><p>"This was the best camp ever. At the other camps I went to—"</p><p>"No, not that part. About how you ran away from home."</p><p>"Oh." He pouted. "It wasn't <em>my</em> home, it was the <em>Wilsons' </em>home."</p><p>Elena's breath caught. "Did they tell you that?"</p><p>"Every day," he said softly.</p><p>"Did—did they hurt you?"</p><p>He held up his left hand. Pink burn marks lined his knuckles.</p><p>Elena paced her breathing. What had she gotten herself into? "How long ago did you run away?"</p><p>He shrugged. "Like a few weeks ago. I went to summer camps and kind of snuck in. They gave me snacks and we had fun and—" He held up his hands. "But this was the best one, I promise!"</p><p>The Wilsons hadn't reported him missing, which meant they wouldn't. He'd probably gone to a public school in an inner city where kids were lost to the system too often for it to come as a surprise to anyone.</p><p>No one was looking for him. If that bowling ball had hit him in the face, if it had smashed his head open, the other campers would have been traumatized for life, but no one would ever have missed him.</p><p>Elena scooted a little close to him. "Can I see your hand?"</p><p>He held out his hand, and she took his little fingers in hers. The marks were scabbed over and mostly healed, but they still made her stomach turn.</p><p>She lightly touched one of the scabs, and he jerked his hand away. "Why did they—" Her voice broke, and she couldn't continue.</p><p>He took a shuddering breath. "They said it would make the demons leave me."</p><p>Elena's eyes met Patrick's.</p><p>"Sam," Patrick said, "why did they think there were demons in you?"</p><p>Sam cringed, pulling his knees into his chest.</p><p>"Hey." Patrick put a hand on his shoulder. "You can tell us. We're not going to hurt you."</p><p>"But what if there <em>are</em> demons in me?"</p><p>Elena breathed in to try to convince Sam demons weren't real, but Patrick spoke first: "Well, you can't get rid of them by burning your knuckles. You have to talk gently to them. Besides—" he smiled— "I'm really good at telling when there are demons around. If you tell me what happened, I can tell you if there are any in you."</p><p>Sam pulled his knees into his chest. When he spoke, it was in barely more than a whisper: "I did my homework with my left hand."</p><p>Elena let her breath out. If there really was something to Sam's uniqueness, his previous foster parents would have been far too caught up in their own obsessive prejudices to notice any miracles happening before their eyes.</p><p>Patrick put on a mock thoughtful face. "Well, based on what I know about demons . . ." He shook his head. "You should be all clear. They don't like possessing left handed people."</p><p>"Really?"</p><p>Patrick winked, and Sam threw his arms around him.</p><p>Elena bit her lip. They still didn't have the whole story. From what little she knew about foster care, kids weren't supposed to be just thrown in a home and abandoned—there was supposed to be an end goal to their care. His birth parents might even still be alive.</p><p>Elena winced—Sam wasn't going to like her questions, but the questions would feel better coming from her than from a police officer. "Sam, where did you stay before you lived with the Wilsons?"</p><p>He let go of Patrick and turned back to her. "With the Paulings."</p><p>"And before that?"</p><p>He squinted. "I don't remember their names. They didn't want me either."</p><p>A weight settled on her chest. The casual, matter-of-fact way he said that . . . "Sam—" she took a deep breath— "do you remember your <em>mom?</em>"</p><p>He shook his head. "No, I don't think I had one. I mean, I didn't meet her."</p><p>His face showed no emotion, either fondness or longing. Maybe a bit of annoyance. She breathed in to ask if he knew where he was from, but Patrick shook his head and put a finger to his lips. Elena nodded. She'd said more than enough, and so had Sam.</p><p>They sat in solemn silence, but not for long. Less than a minute later, Dr. Baker came over to stand beside them, Michelle following close behind.</p><p>Elena stood. "Is someone coming for Sam?"</p><p>Sam gasped, and his eyes grew wide. "Wait, did you call the Wilsons?"</p><p>"No," Dr. Baker said, "but I did call the police."</p><p>Sam burst into tears again, and he clung onto Patrick. "Don't let them take me, Mr. Patrick," he said. "Please, they're going to burn me again."</p><p>"No, son." Dr. Baker's voice sounded gentler than Elena had ever heard it. "If your foster parents were hurting you, they'll send you to a new home, not back to the same one."</p><p>Sam sniffled and peeked over his shoulder. "How do you know?"</p><p>"I know a lot of things." Dr. Baker's tone was back to its usual indifference. "The police are agreeing to meet us back at Tech United headquarters."</p><p>Michelle stepped forward. "Why not here?"</p><p>"Because based on everything you've told me—rather, everything Elena has told me—there seem to be some anomalies occurring in this place."</p><p>"What does that mean?" Patrick kept one hand on Sam's shoulder.</p><p>"A lot of foster children have—" he paused and looked at Sam— "additional needs. We need to figure out what kind Sam has, and whether he's the one who has them."</p><p>Elena blinked. All of the unexpected events had happened when Sam was present—who else would be suspect? "What does that mean?"</p><p>"Elena, you were also present for all of the anomalies. To be safe, we need to have all of you present for some tests."</p><p>Michelle shook her head. "I don't understand. Why not just let the foster care agency take care of it?"</p><p>"Because they've never dealt with anything like this. Sam or Elena—or both—might be special in a way none of us knows how to deal with. But back at headquarters, we have some highly competent engineers and sophisticated equipment that might help us get to the bottom of whatever is going on."</p><p>Something sounded off to Elena. "How did you convince the police of that, though? Did you explain the whole thing to them?"</p><p>"The officer I spoke to on the phone has known me for a long time. She's helped with security for our headquarters more than once, and she trusts us and the work we do. She agrees that we need to find out what we're dealing with before we decide how to deal with it."</p><p>It was quiet for a bit. Elena shifted her weight and glanced from the fear on Sam's face, to the concern on Michelle's, to the easy confidence on Dr. Baker's. Something in all this sounded very wrong to her—every part of her wanted to say something, especially when her silence had caused so much trouble already this week—but there was nothing she could say. Not in front of Sam, and definitely not in front of Dr. Baker.</p><p>For one reason or another, Tech United believed there was something to Elena's suspicions. It was better than the opposite.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Headquarters</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dr. Baker took his car to headquarters, and Michelle followed close behind, driving the motor home. Sam rode with Patrick and Elena in the back. He clung onto Patrick's arm for most of the drive. "I don't understand," he said. "Where are we going?"</p><p>Elena sighed. Eventually he would ask question they wouldn't know how to answer, but withholding the things she did know wouldn't help. "We're going to the place where Dr. Baker works."</p><p>"Where does Dr. Baker work?"</p><p>"He works for this company called Tech United."</p><p>"What's Tech United?"</p><p>"They make computers and phones and stuff. They also—well, you know Camp Universe, where we just came from? They give money to Miss Michelle so we can keep doing camp."</p><p>"Oh."</p><p>Elena leaned back in her seat and let her eyes fall closed, waiting for the inevitable question.</p><p>"Why are we going there?"</p><p>Elena pressed her lips together. The anomalies were strange, but Tech United wouldn't actually believe that there was something to them—unless they knew things Dr. Baker wasn't letting on. She also couldn't imagine the police allowing them to cart around an escaped foster child, even if they did know Dr. Baker. Something was <em>wrong.</em></p><p>She cleared her throat. "They're just . . . they're going to help you find a new place to live. But hey, have you ever been inside a motor home before?"</p><p>"Yes, right now."</p><p>"But before today?"</p><p>"No."</p><p>"Patrick, you should give him a tour." She gave him a pointed look.</p><p>He nodded. "Hey, Sam, do you want to meet some of the animals? We'll have to take them into the back room so they have space to run around, though."</p><p>Michelle wouldn't love the animals being in her room, but seeing as they probably didn't have much time left to live in the motor home, she'd forgive Elena for the diversion. There was a bit of spring in Sam's steps as he followed Patrick over to one of the animal cages.</p><p>Elena watched him go, then she opened the window to the driving compartment. "Hey, Michelle."</p><p>"Hey. How's Sam?"</p><p>"Oh?"</p><p>"You're concerned that Dr. Baker's not telling us the whole truth, you're worried about what they want with us at headquarters, you want to know my plan for keeping Camp Universe together."</p><p>"He's occupied, Patrick's showing him the animals. I wanted to talk to you."</p><p>"I know what you're going to say," Michelle said. Elena couldn't see much of her face, but she could imagine the tightness of her jaw.</p><p>"Well?"</p><p>Michelle sighed, her shoulders settling. "I know. This is weird. I'm on the same page you are—some weird things have happened this week, and I want to know why. But I wouldn't have expected one of the country's largest tech companies to feel the same way."</p><p>"Do you think it's some kind of trap?"</p><p>"What kind of trap?" She raised an eyebrow.</p><p>"I don't know. They're a multi-billion dollar corporation. Doesn't that make them, like, automatically suspect?"</p><p>Michelle gave her a pointed look. "If they weren't a multi-billion dollar corporation, they couldn't afford to be our donors."</p><p>"But—" Elena's voice lowered, and she looked around herself as if Dr. Baker would suddenly appear in the camper. "That's just for publicity, right? It's not like they care enough about us to . . . to not do bad things to us."</p><p>Michelle shrugged. "We'll be on our guard. But right now, we don't have much choice but to follow along. They own this camper, they own the shirts on our backs. Right now, we belong to them."</p><p>Elena winced. "I have a really bad feeling about this. What happens if we just don't follow him to headquarters?"</p><p>"We'll be guilty of kidnapping."</p><p>"Oh. Right."</p><p>Michelle's eyes met her for just a moment through the rear view mirrors. "I'd be more concerned if we'd . . . heard something we weren't supposed to hear, or seen something we weren't supposed to see. Something we might leak to the press. But we haven't."</p><p>"Then what do they want with us?"</p><p>"I don't know, Elena."</p><p>"Then why are we <em>going?</em>"</p><p>Michelle didn't respond for a long time, keeping her eyes on the road. There was a resolution in her gaze—there was no way she would turn back or question Jim—but Elena could almost see the gears in her mind turning at a thousand miles an hour trying to form a good explanation as to why. Finally, in a tone that was gentle but allowed no argument, she said, "Because resisting our sponsors isn't going help keep Camp Universe together. And we're not the only ones whose jobs are at stake here."</p><p>Elena knew in her head, but often forgot on a more conscious level, that they weren't the only camper traveling the country to put on science camps for low-income elementary school students.</p><p>She couldn't imagine that her job would be spared. Best case, Tech United would just fire Elena and leave the rest of camp intact; worst case, they'd shut down the sponsorship entirely; most likely case, Elena, Patrick, and Michelle would lose their camper and their jobs.</p><p>Still, they didn't have to go to headquarters for that to happen. And they sure didn't need to bring Sam.</p><p>But it was like Michelle had said: Tech United owned them all for the time being, owned the shirts on their backs. They didn't have a choice.</p><hr/><p>The motor home couldn't fit into the headquarters parking garage, so Michelle parked it out in the lot. It took up several parking spaces.</p><p>Sam's face was white, and he clung onto Patrick's hand as they followed Dr. Baker into the large office building, which was much taller and shinier than necessary. Elena felt as terrified as he looked.</p><p>The lobby was too white, too clean. A receptionist in a pants suit with creases sharp enough to slice through skin lead them down a hallway and gestured to an office for each to enter into. The receptionist asked Sam to step into a different room from Patrick. At first, Sam hung onto him, but Patrick tousled his hair and gently pried his fingers away, reassuring him casually with "I'll see you in just a few" and "You go be brave, okay?" and Sam finally agreed.</p><p>Elena shot a desperate look to Michelle before stepping into her assigned room, but she received no reassurance in response. She bit her lip as the receptionist gently shut the door behind her, and paced in the office. A brown desk, two black leather chairs, shelves holding books with titles too boring for even Elena to bother remembering, framed promotional materials for Tech United.</p><p>She had halfway lowered herself onto one of the chairs when the door swung open again, and Elena jumped to her feet. A woman in a white lab coat entered with a plastic box a bit bigger than a shoebox in her arms. She set it down on the table then held a hand out to Elena.</p><p>"I'm Dr. Helene Brooke," she said.</p><p>Elena hesitantly shook her hand. "Elena Holmes. What's going on here, Dr. Brooke?"</p><p>"Please, call me Helene. I'm so sorry, you must be so confused."</p><p>"Yeah, and Sam is kind of panicking."</p><p>"What did Jim tell you?"</p><p>"Jim. Uh, you mean Dr. Baker?"</p><p>"Yes."</p><p>"Almost nothing. Just that we had to come here."</p><p>"Again, that's our fault. We asked Jim not to try to explain too much to you all. As you saw, his people skills—" She made a face.</p><p>Elena almost felt at ease enough to laugh. Still, it was strange that they had tasked him with evaluating a kids' camp.</p><p>"So the reason we brought you here is that you all noticed something rather extraordinary this weekend. Jim noticed it, too. The number of anomalies witnessed in a simple place and time was, well, unallowable by all of our statistical models. We had to rule out coincidence."</p><p>"I don't follow."</p><p>"We think one of you might be special in a way no one has ever seen before."</p><p>"Sam, right?"</p><p>"Most likely, yes, though we had to bring you all down for control purposes."</p><p>"Just because our physics demos aren't working for him?"</p><p>She took a deep breath. "Jim's got you quoted in his notes. Those demonstrations show science in its simplest form. They should work for everyone, as long as . . ."</p><p>"As long as <em>what?</em>"</p><p>Helene looked away for a moment, then she looked Elena right in the eyes. "As long as science itself works for everyone."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Science</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Elena just stared, waiting for the punchline. But Helene kept her gaze steady.</p><p>Tech United didn't just believe her. They believed what she had wondered, only secretly, maybe only subconsciously—that nothing was wrong with her demos, and that something was wrong with Sam. That something was wrong with science.</p><p>Because of course, she had wondered. It was the obvious answer. But it was also the least sensical answer she could imagine. "This is ridiculous."</p><p>"Is it?"</p><p>She breathed in to say yes, but her breath caught in her throat. Other than pure coincidence, it was also the <em>only</em> answer she could imagine. Unless she was going crazy, but then Jim would have to be going crazy, too, and Michelle, and Sam . . . back to coincidence. "I—I don't—it's impossible!"</p><p>"Yesterday, I would have agreed with you. Today we run some tests, and we'll see where we stand in a few hours."</p><p>"A few hours? Will it take that long?" They had the camper and nowhere to go, and Elena wasn't exactly in a rush to get home, but something about this facility made her skin crawl, had made her skin crawl since before they had even arrived.</p><p>Helene raised her eyebrows. "You're a scientist, aren't you, Elena?"</p><p>"I'm an engineer. I mean, I'm an engineering student."</p><p>"You'll have taken enough science classes to know, then—scientific analysis takes time."</p><p>Elena shifted her position in her chair and gripped the armrests. "Okay. What kind of tests?"</p><p>Helene reached into the box on her desk and pulled out two wires, a light bulb, and a battery. "Let's start with this."</p><p>"You're kidding me."</p><p>"These are the demonstrations that didn't work for the child, right? You're our control."</p><p>Elena sighed and picked up the materials. She connected the wires to each side of the battery and each side of the bulb. The filament glowed, a dim yellow-white. "Happy?"</p><p>Helene made a few notes on the tablet on her desk, then she reached back into the box. She took out a flashlight and a blue sheet of paper. "Turn on the flashlight, will you?"</p><p>Elena pressed the button on the side. The bulb inside shone a bright yellow—sodium neon. They really were recreating her demonstrations.</p><p>Helene stood and walked around the side of her desk to flick the light switch off. The room was completely dark except for the little yellow light. "Shine the light on the paper. What color is it?"</p><p>"It's blue in white light, but it's black now."</p><p>Helene flicked back on the room lights and returned to her desk. "A few more."</p><p>She pulled out a mirror and had Elena describe the reflections of items in the room; she gave her a lens and a shaped light and had her form an image on the wall; she gave her a prism and had her make a rainbow. And on it went. Elena found herself impressed by the sheer quantity and variety of equipment Helene produced, but it shouldn't have been surprising. Tech United did a lot of pure research along with their pursuits of industrial endeavors.</p><p>Finally, the endless supply of materials in the box ran out. "Thanks for bearing with us, Elena. I know this must seem very strange to you."</p><p>She shrugged. She could see herself having done the same things with Sam. "Are we done?"</p><p>"One last test." She reached into the crate again and pulled out a small box with clear plastic walls and wires and chips inside. Three red digital readouts faced the top, all reading 1.000.</p><p>"What's this?"</p><p>"It won't hurt you. Hold it."</p><p>Elena hesitated before taking the box from Helene, holding it out away from her with straight arms. "What now?"</p><p>"Let's see—no changes on the readouts?"</p><p>All three still read <em>1.000.</em> "No."</p><p>"Then that's all. I'm going to take you all into one of our break rooms."</p><p>Elena followed her to the door and down the hall. Nothing bad had happened. There hadn't even been any invasive tests.</p><p>All of the demos—all of the <em>science</em>—worked just fine for her. She wondered what the followup tests would have been like if they had failed.</p><p>But how <em>could</em> they have failed?</p><p>The break room into which Helene ushered Elena was brightly decorated, with large couches surrounding tables that held games and books. One wall was all windows; another was lined with cabinets and a countertop, with rows of bowls filled with various snack foods. Michelle and Patrick were already sitting on one of the couches.</p><p>"Feel free to help yourself to any of the refreshments," Helene said. "I'll be back in a few minutes."</p><p>Elena hurried over to sit on the couch across from her team. "What happened?"</p><p>Patrick shrugged. "Dunno, but you gotta love this lounge."</p><p>Elena rolled her eyes. "Not helpful."</p><p>Michelle's brow furrowed. "Ease up, Elena. We're all stuck here for a bit, but we don't have to be sour about it."</p><p>Elena took a deep breath—of course, Michelle was right, but that didn't mean they couldn't try to figure out what was going on. "Did they do a bunch of demos with you?"</p><p>Both nodded.</p><p>"Well? They all worked?"</p><p>"Um." Patrick traced a few lines in the carpet with his toe. "I forgot how to light the light bulb. But other than that, yeah."</p><p>Elena turned to Michelle, who shook her head. "No problems here. I'm assuming everything worked fine for you as well, Elena?"</p><p>She let her breath out. "You'll notice who's not back with us yet."</p><p>As if on cue, the door to the lounge opened, revealing a pouting Sam lead by the arm by a man in a white lab coat. "We're giving him a little break," the man said.</p><p>Elena stood. "What happened?"</p><p>"I failed <em>all</em> their tests." Sam trudged over to the couch and plunked down into the cushion headfirst. Patrick put a hand on his back.</p><p>"We're going to go recalibrate—er, we're going to make some—" the man cleared his throat in Sam's direction— "easier tests. Planck, we need you to calm down. Can you do that for us?"</p><p>Sam groaned into the leather cushion.</p><p>Patrick shot the man a look. "Oh, lay off him. He's a kid."</p><p>The man blinked. "I beg your pardon?"</p><p>"Go do your stupid science experiment."</p><p>Elena raised her eyebrows. She'd never seen Patrick speak that way to anyone. She wasn't sure she'd ever even seen him truly annoyed. He'd teased her a bit when she had seemed over stressed, much to her chagrin, but the tone of his voice was different now.</p><p>The man in the lab coat straightened his glasses and his back. "We'll be back." He fled the room.</p><p>Sam rubbed his eyes and looked up at Patrick. "I'm really bad at science."</p><p>"Me too." Patrick grinned. "But you know what? We can still have fun learning. Today, I learned how to light a light bulb."</p><p>Sam grumbled, "I couldn't do it. Mine just got all hot and burned my fingers."</p><p>Elena let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. He'd just short circuited the bulb. No breakdown of science there. Maybe his "failures" at the lab were really just that—an eight-year-old who didn't know hot to use the equipment.</p><p>"Oh, mine did too! But hey, Sam. How old are you?"</p><p>"Eight."</p><p>"Well, I'm eigh<em>teen</em>. And I just learned how to light up a lightbulb today. So if you had made it work, you'd be ten years ahead of me."</p><p>Sam flipped around and sat up straight. "Miss Elena! Did you get the bulb to light up?"</p><p>Patrick widened his eyes and mouthed <em>No</em>, but Elena had no interest in lying to the kid. "Yeah, I did." She leaned forward a little. "But you know what, it was hard for me when I was eight, too."</p><p>Sam sat on his knees and bounced a little. "Miss Michelle?"</p><p>"Yeah, I got the light bulb to light up."</p><p>"But what about when you were eight?"</p><p>Michelle looked up for a moment, as if in thought. "Oh, I don't even remember that long ago. I'm pretty old, you know."</p><p>"How old are you?"</p><p>She smirked. "How old do you think?"</p><p>"Um, sixty?"</p><p>Michelle burst out laughing, and Elena couldn't help but join along. She'd never actually asked how old Michelle was, but she was almost definitely in her thirties, forty at the most.</p><p>Patrick tousled his hair, and Sam settled back into his chair, a small contented smile on his face. Elena's eyes passed from Sam, to Patrick, to Michelle, and she felt her smile fade. Patrick snapping at the Tech United employees and all of them comforting Sam after the tests wouldn't stop the inevitable end—the police still had to take him away, take him to a new foster home that would have no idea how to deal with him.</p><p>For now, though, they had a few hours, or at least a few minutes, to relax. Michelle went over to the counter to pick up dixie cups of snacks, and Elena knelt down in front of the table to pull out one of the games. For awhile, they played and ate and laughed, and Elena tried as hard as she could to put the future out of her mind, as Michelle and Patrick always seemed to do so easily.</p><p>Finally, the door to the lounge swung open once again, to reveal Helene and Jim. "We're ready for you."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Lies</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Camp Universe team sat side by side in the same office where Elena had been tested. Jim and Helene sat on the other side of the desk.</p><p>Jim folded his hands on his desk. "We'll cut to the chase."</p><p>"No." Helene narrowed her eyes at him. "We'll explain everything so they can understand."</p><p>Jim shifted, a slight scowl on his face.</p><p>Helene blinked a couple of times and turned to face Michelle. "It must be very confusing to you why we brought you here in the first place. Elena here made some intriguing observations. Certainly, you have seen some unusual things during these first couple of days of camp."</p><p>"I've never heard of anything like it," Michelle said.</p><p>Helene took a deep breath before speaking again. "Well, some of our theorists have toyed with the idea, but we've never heard of anything like this in real life. And that's exactly why we needed to make sure there wasn't anything to these claims."</p><p>Elena shifted her position in her chair. There was a certain flicker in Helene's eyes that told her without a shadow of a doubt—she was lying. Elena hadn't been so certain of anything in years.</p><p>Tech United <em>had</em> heard of anomalies like this before. And the more she thought about it, the more sense it made. If they hadn't, why would they have gone to the trouble of bringing them all down there, just because Jim had seen some demos go wrong?</p><p>Those tests in the box—most of them could have been compiled on an hour's notice. But that last one, the box with the wires and readouts—that was measuring something. She had never seen a meter like it in any of her classes or the labs where she had interned. Had they designed it specifically to detect anomalies? If so, how could they have just happened to have one lying around?</p><p>No. Tech United hadn't just toyed with the theory of anomalies. They'd seen this happen before. Not just that, but they were actively looking for them. And they believed there was something special about Sam. So why was Sam special? And why did Tech United want to study anomalies?</p><p>Maybe it was her own cynicism, but she couldn't bring herself to believe it was just curiosity.</p><p>Elena cleared her throat. "Did you figure out why the demos weren't working for Sam?"</p><p>She closed her eyes. "I'm afraid it really just was a coincidence. We all jumped at shadows here."</p><p>Another lie. Elena stared directly at Helene, desperately trying to read her.</p><p>Patrick let out a short laugh. "So that's it? We can go?"</p><p>Michelle winced. "Has any decision been reached with regards to the future of Camp Universe?"</p><p>"On the funding?"</p><p>"And logistics, yes. We had to send home this week's campers, and we have six more weeks of camp scheduled."</p><p>Helene nodded slowly, pressing her lips together. "Since no one is pressing charges against the camp, we can continue the funding. Of course, we cannot allow camp to continue as it has. Having ruled out the possibility of anomalies, we have to draw the only possible conclusion: your equipment is unstable, and we have concerns about the stability of its designer as well."</p><p>Michelle's breath caught in her throat. "I can personally vouch for—"</p><p>"It would be unwise to do so."</p><p>Michelle's jaw hung open for a moment, then she closed her mouth, though her jaw pulsed. Elena crossed her arms and looked down at her lap. Michelle couldn't vouch for her. And Elena couldn't ask her to, not anymore.</p><p>"Michelle and Patrick, you have the remainder of the week to return Elena to her home and make your way to the next camp. We will put out recruitment notices in the cities where you are headed so that you will have high school volunteer help for each of your remaining camps."</p><p>For a long time, Michelle just stared. Elena could almost imagine she could see the gears turning in her mind. "If our equipment is unstable," Michelle said finally, "we need a technician now more than ever."</p><p>Jim shook his head. "None of the other camps have a technician. They all use the standard Camp Universe demonstrations that your curriculum developers originally designed."</p><p>Elena knew the ones they were talking about. They were fine. They would teach a little bit about science, but they were unlikely to inspire a generation of future scientists and engineers. She bit the inside of her cheek. She couldn't say anything—they already believed she was unstable.</p><p>But no, they didn't. They would believe she was unstable if they really hadn't found any anomalies. Now, though, they were only claiming they hadn't found anything. The pit of her stomach churned. They weren't just lying to withhold information—their lies were making Elena look like an idiot, and a dangerous one at that.</p><p>Either way, there was nothing she could say to change anything.</p><p>"Look." Jim leaned forward in his chair. "Given the circumstances, this is the best outcome you could have hoped for."</p><p>Helene put a hand on his forearm. "What Jim means is that you'll keep your full funding. Camp Universe will continue, both for your team and for all of the other traveling motor homes."</p><p>"Who will take care of the animals," Michelle said through her teeth.</p><p>Her brow furrowed. "I believe yours is the only camper with animals. We'll send the animals to pet stores and shelters—with the exception of the dog, as she belongs to Elena, yes? But that's good for you, right? You'll have more space in the motor home without all those cages."</p><p>Elena felt herself start to breathe hard, and her eyes stung. The animals were friendly, and they'd probably find good homes, but she couldn't make sure of that. And either way, she'd never see any of them again.</p><p>Michelle put a hand on Elena's shoulder, and Elena swallowed back the tears. She couldn't do this, especially not in front of Michelle. Not when her own mistakes had set this whole thing on its course.</p><p>Sam blew a raspberry. "Wow, you guys are really mean."</p><p>Jim's mouth opened, then closed, then opened again.</p><p>Helene took a deep breath. "Planck, I don't think you understand what's going on here."</p><p>Sam flinched. "You're firing Miss Elena and selling her pets."</p><p>Elena cringed for all she was worth. "Sam, it's not—"</p><p>"I had foster parents once that bought me a bunny then sold it when I was bad. They were really mean." He stuck out his chin. "You guys are the <em>meanest</em>."</p><p>Helene sighed heavily. "No, Planck. We're protecting kids. Elena threw you to the ground. Didn't she scrape up your elbow?"</p><p>Sam fingered his elbow and pouted. Elena's stomach kept churning. They knew exactly why she had done it. If they wanted anomalies so bad, and they had seen Sam in danger, they would have done the exact same thing.</p><p>"We want you to be safe," Helene said. "Don't you want to be safe, Planck?"</p><p>He wrinkled his nose.</p><p>"We're going to take you to a nice home, okay?" She reached for Sam's hand, but he jerked it away. Her smile only faded a little. "Michelle and Patrick are going to keep doing Camp Universe, and you're going to get a new family. Doesn't that sound nice?"</p><p>"Can't I just go to camp?" he grumbled.</p><p>Patrick nudged his shoulder. "Hey, maybe you can ask your new family if you can go to camp."</p><p>Elena shot him a look over Sam's head. It wasn't fair to raise the kid's hopes, especially after the experiences he'd had with foster homes so far. She wasn't sure whether to call it fortunate or unfortunate that Sam didn't seem to be buying it anyway. He sank down in his chair until he was almost lying down.</p><p>A low buzzing sounded, and Helene took her phone out of her pocket. "Yes, this is Dr. Brooke . . . yes, right away." She set her phone down on the desk. "That was Officer Lee. They're ready to take Sam in."</p><p>Helene and Jim stood. "We'll be right back," Jim said.</p><p>As soon as they were gone, Sam sat straight up, and his lower lip began to tremble. "Miss Michelle, you're not going to let the police take me."</p><p>Michelle went over to kneel in front of Sam. "It's going to be okay, Sam. You'll be okay. But listen to me. Look at me, Sam."</p><p>He covered his face, but peeked out from between his fingers.</p><p>"If anyone hurts you, you have to tell your social workers, or your teacher at school, or some other grown up you trust. They'll get you away so you can be safe. You can't run away all by yourself again, okay?"</p><p>Patrick squeezed his shoulder, but Elena couldn't bring herself to comfort him—it felt too much like a lie. There was no way Jim had called the police. They'd have realized the same thing Elena had: Sam had been lost to the system. No one was looking for him, and no one would miss him.</p><p>"Hey Sam."</p><p>Sam sniffled. "Yeah?"</p><p>"Did your scientist give you a plastic box to hold at the end of your tests?"</p><p>"Yeah, the one with the little red numbers that went all funny when I touched it?"</p><p>"What do you mean, they went all funny?"</p><p>"I mean, it just had ones and a bunch of zeroes when it was sitting on the table, then I picked it up and the numbers went up and down and all over the place.</p><p>Elena felt her fingers go numb.</p><p>Sam was an anomaly. Somehow, science didn't work for him. So it was possible—the laws of science could be broken. If the rules of science she knew didn't work for Sam, what were the rules? The whole universe couldn't just bend into chaos around a single individual.</p><p>She could panic about the implications of breakable scientific laws later—and certainly, she would. More important questions pressed in on her now.</p><p>Why was Tech United investigating anomalies? And now that they had found one, what would they do with him?</p><p>More concerning: what would they do <em>to</em> him?</p><p>Elena gripped her armrests. Maybe, <em>maybe</em> someone really would come for them in a police uniform, but it would be nothing more than a costume.</p><p>The door to the office opened once again, and Jim stood beside a man in a police uniform. Sam jumped out of his seat and ran for the window, but the officer—no, the man in the police costume—was faster. He grabbed Sam by the forearm and wrenched him backwards. Sam screamed, but it sounded less like fear and more like pain to Elena.</p><p>"Thanks for taking care of this one," the officer said, pulling Sam's other hand behind his back while he sobbed. "You're free to go. We'll take it from here."</p><p>Michelle hid her distress behind a stoic expression, and Patrick never showed much of his annoyance or stress on his face, but it was all Elena could do to contain herself.</p><p>"Please be careful with him," Michelle said. "He's a good kid. He's got some burn marks from the folks at his last home, he's had a tough run."</p><p>"We'll make sure he gets to a good home."</p><p>Elena breathed in to speak, but Michelle stepped on her foot, hard. Elena bit her lip and looked over at Michelle, who was completely avoiding her gaze.</p><p>All at once, she felt like an idiot. Of course Michelle had picked up on what was really happening. Of course they were going to do something about it.</p><p>But they couldn't do it now. Maybe when they returned to the camper, they could call the real police, or get someone else to help them. But for now, they just had to watch as the man in the police costume dragged Sam away.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Gravity</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Elena paced back and forth in the motor home. Patrick sat on the couch, and Michelle stood by the kitchen table.</p><p>"Breathe, Elena," she said. "We're going to figure out what to do."</p><p>"What to do about what?" Patrick leaned back in the seat. "It's over, right?"</p><p>Michelle sighed. "Not so simple, Patrick. We're pretty sure they were lying about a lot of the things they told us."</p><p>"Like what?" He shifted in his seat.</p><p>Elena stopped in her tracks to face him. As much as she should have realized Michelle would catch the signs, she should have known that Patrick wouldn't. "Like that police officer was <em>not</em> actually an officer. It was just a costume."</p><p>"No kidding?"</p><p>Michelle winced. "Sam is special. They're not going to just let him go back into the foster care system."</p><p>"I mean, I guess that's good, but—"</p><p>"They're going to experiment on him!" Elena went back to pacing. "That plastic box they gave us, I think it was meant for detecting anomalies. I'm guessing the numbers stayed at <em>1.000</em>'s for you both?"</p><p>Michelle and Patrick nodded. "But wait." Patrick also stood. "If that's true, they've basically just kidnapped Sam."</p><p>Elena turned to Michelle. "We have to call the police. The real police."</p><p>Michelle squeezed her eyes shut and leaned against the table. "Elena, I agree about Sam being special, and I agree about the scientists lying, but I'm not sure that wasn't a real officer. Tech United is a multi-billion dollar corporation. They could easily have the police in their pockets."</p><p>"But—" Elena's breath caught in her throat. "Couldn't we just . . . we can't just let them keep him! Could we call a different police department?"</p><p>"Even if we could," Michelle said, "we're accomplices to kidnapping. And Tech United will certainly paint it that way, and in the end they'll twist our words and they'll get what they want anyway."</p><p>Elena forced herself to stop pacing. "Well, we have to do <em>something!</em>"</p><p>"We should, like—" Patrick slammed a fist into his open palm— "just get in there. Go in swinging if we have to. They kidnapped him, we kidnap him back."</p><p>"There's three of us, Patrick," Elena said.</p><p>"Well, do you have a better plan, genius?"</p><p>Elena flinched. "No, because I'm not going to suggest something inane that will land us all in prison or worse."</p><p>"Both of you, knock it off. I need to think this out." Michelle sat down at the table and rested her fingers on her temples, eyes closed.</p><p>Elena and Patrick exchanged a glance, then Elena slowly walked over to join her at the table, rested her chin in her hands, and closed her eyes also.</p><p>Michelle was right about the power of the corporation that had taken Sam. There would be no countering them by ordinary means, and even with the chance to present their case first, there was no way they'd come out on top after a discussion with the police department. If Tech United was willing to go against regulations, they must have had run-ins with law enforcement before. They'd have ways of covering their tracks, hiding their crimes, and making their accusers look crazy.</p><p>Then again, neither Michelle nor Elena had let on that they knew what Tech United was up to. They wouldn't expect the Camp Universe team to come back for Sam—as far as they knew, the team believed Sam was just being taken to foster care.</p><p>If that was the case, at least Patrick's plan had the advantage of surprise. Taking a high-security facility by storm would be insane, but maybe they could find a way to disguise themselves, gain access, and sneak in . . .</p><p>Elena squeezed her eyes shut tighter. That spy movie binge after finals week hadn't done her any favors. Even if there was a way to sneak in, too many of the employees had seen them. They'd be recognized before they made it past the first layer of security—whatever the security even was. She had taken a couple of coding classes, but that didn't put her in a place where she could hack into anything.</p><p>She let out her breath and opened her eyes. Michelle, across from her, kept her eyes closed; Patrick, behind her on the couch, stared off into space, his face in his hand.</p><p>"If one of us were on the inside," Patrick said, "we could run."</p><p>Elena raised one eyebrow and turned her chair so she could see both Michelle and Patrick. "That's a big maybe. And it would only work if we hadn't let on our suspicions."</p><p>Michelle shook her head. "It would be tough. We'd have to find a good moment, climb out through a window, and make a good run for it. A car waiting on the outside would help."</p><p>"But we're not on the inside," Patrick said. "Is there a way to tell Sam to come to us?"</p><p>Elena sighed. "He doesn't have a phone."</p><p>"If he had one, they'd have taken it by now." Michelle finally opened her eyes. "But if I could get in contact with him, I wouldn't tell advise him to try to run."</p><p>A brief pause, then Patrick asked, "Why not?"</p><p>Michelle bit her lip. "Because . . . if he tried to escape through the door of whatever room they're keeping him, he's going to run into security in the hallways. If he heads to a window—"</p><p>"Security cameras," Elena said. "Anywhere on the first story will have them. I see what you're saying, but—"</p><p>"Um, guys?" Patrick stood and walked over to the side of the camper, squinting through the glass. "You think they'll have security cameras on the windows on the upper floors?"</p><p>Elena let out a short laugh. "Probably not, but . . ."</p><p>Patrick still stared out the window.</p><p>"Come on, Patrick, you can't be serious."</p><p>He just pointed.</p><p>Elena gasped and ran to the window, closely followed by Michelle. A small figure hung from the window on the third story.</p><p>Michelle grabbed her keys from the table and ran toward the door. "I'm driving over there!"</p><p>Elena's heart pounded. "What are we supposed to do? He's about to fall!"</p><p>"Figure it out!" The door slammed shut.</p><p>Patrick grabbed her arm. "We've got to help him."</p><p>"Look who's a genius now. What do you suggest?"</p><p>"You're the one with the brilliant plans!"</p><p>Elena groaned. "I never <em>said </em>that! Well, um—" she dug her fingers into her hair and began to pace again, faster than before— "we tell him to go back inside."</p><p>"He was scared enough to climb out through the window, do you think we're going to be able to convince him to go back in?"</p><p>"Well, what's your idea?"</p><p>"I don't know! You're an engineer, break his fall!"</p><p>The engine started, and the motor home took off. Elena nearly lost her balance, and she felt herself beginning to hyperventilate. "Okay, okay. Grab the sheets from your bed. We'll make a trampoline and let him jump."</p><p>"Onto bedsheets? From the third story?"</p><p>"It's all I've got on short notice. It'll hurt, but it won't kill him." Elena ripped the cushions off the couch and pulled out the hide-a-bed. Patrick tore his blankets off the bed and pulled at the sheets.</p><p>"You sure he can't, like, fly? Science doesn't work for him."</p><p>Elena rolled her eyes. "It's light. Light physics don't work on him. Gravity works fine." Which meant the bowling ball pendulum would have worked fine. She didn't have to step in. They probably wouldn't have been in this mess if she had just minded her own business</p><p>For a moment, that thought was enough to stop her in her tracks. Maybe this was a case like that—interfering when she didn't need to.</p><p>Elena glanced out of the window. Sam had slipped down a little further and was now dangling by just his hands. Now wasn't the time to be having doubts about whether she should help.</p><p>A squealing of the brakes, and Elena stumbled forward a few steps. "Come on, let's go." She darted out the front door, closely followed by Patrick, who took the other side of the sheet. "Sam!" she cried.</p><p>His curly red hair remained facing them.</p><p>"Sam, can you hear me?" Michelle's much louder voice called.</p><p>His little face turned toward them. His cheeks glittered in the sunlight, tears still flowing.</p><p>"You have to go back in!" Elena cried. "You have to—"</p><p>Patrick nudged her in the ribs. "Sam, <em>jump!</em>"</p><p>"I can't!" He screamed as one of his hands slipped.</p><p>Elena gestured to Patrick, and they held out the sheet, as taut and high as they could. "Then fall," she choked out.</p><p>There was no way he could have heard her, and no way he could have chosen to disobey. He dropped faster than she had imagined—movies always showed people falling in slow motion, and some part of her mind couldn't help but expect that. He fell hard onto the sheet—one side ripped out of her hand. He tumbled onto the concrete, but the sheet had been enough to slow his fall, and his head was the last to reach the ground.</p><p>"Sam!" Elena knelt down to him.</p><p>He was silent, but rolled onto his back.</p><p>"Guys, we have to run." Patrick pointed up at the top window, where several people were peeking out to look and point at them.</p><p>Elena put a hand on Sam's shoulder. "We can't run! We'll be kidnappers."</p><p>"We can't let him stay!"</p><p>"I know, I know . . ." Elena looked up at Michelle, who pressed her lips together and nodded. "Okay. Hurry. Careful."</p><p>They picked up the two sides of the sheet, carrying a groaning Sam along with them up into the camper as Michelle ran to the driver's compartment. The door wasn't quite closed behind them when the motor home took off, and Elena stumbled backwards, falling partway through the door as the camper sped off.</p><p>"Ah!" A firm hand grasped one of her ankles, then the other. She lifted her head so it wouldn't hit the concrete, and forced herself to open her eyes. Behind them in the parking lot they were speeding through, two police officers raced into their cars. "Pull me in, they're catching up!"</p><p>The force on her ankles increased—she winced—until she could reach the inner rim of the doorway and pull herself up. Patrick slammed the door shut behind her, and she laid panting on the carpet.</p><p>"Thank you," she muttered.</p><p>"Don't mention it."</p><p>A bump in the road jostled them to the floor, and Sam, mostly covered by the sheet, let out a whimper. Elena crawled over to unfold the sheet. One side of the same arm that had been injured that morning—was it really only that morning? It seemed like ages— was scraped all the way down, and his jeans were ripped all the way through on the same side. Blood seeped through the tears in the fabric.</p><p>"Sam, can you look at me? Did you hit your head?"</p><p>He winced as he sat up, and squinted as he looked into her face. "Where are we going?"</p><p>"We're getting away from the bad guys. Where does it hurt?"</p><p>He sniffled and gestured all down the scrapes. "It <em>really</em> hurts."</p><p>"Dude." Patrick grinned. "You just survived jumping out of a building. That was <em>awesome</em>."</p><p>Sam smiled, and Elena let her breath out.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Chase</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As the motor home sped away from the facility, Elena dug through the pantries for a first aid kid as Patrick helped Sam up onto the couch.</p><p>"Find it?" Patrick asked.</p><p>She nodded, letting her breath out as she carried the supplies over to where Sam was sitting, his tears continuing to spill with each movement of his arm and leg. She carried the first aid kid back to him, knelt beside Patrick in front of Sam, and rolled up Sam's pant leg as gently as she could. As far as she could tell, the scrapes were only skin deep.</p><p>"You're going to be okay." She dabbed a cleansing pad onto his scraped, and he whined.</p><p>"Hey," Patrick said, "I'm not so sure. We might have to chop it off." He gently karate chopped at the uninjured areas of Sam's knees, and Sam giggled.</p><p>A sudden swerve knocked them all to the side. Elena ran to the front and threw open the window to Michelle's compartment.</p><p>"We're being tailed. Need to throw them off."</p><p>Elena ripped open the curtains on one side of the camper, and Patrick ran to the other side. She could make out police lights beside them, and if she angled herself to see the rear view mirrors, she could see several cars tailing them—some with sirens, some with lights, but all keeping pace right behind them.</p><p>"What are we going to do?" Elena cried.</p><p>"Hang on to something!" Michelle wrenched the steering wheel to one side, and Elena tumbled to the floor.</p><p>"We can't outrun them!"</p><p>"I'm going to try to lose them." Out in front of the camper, cars and pedestrians raced to the sides of the street. Michelle ran over a curb and kept driving.</p><p>Elena grabbed onto one of the handles at the side of the car just in time for the next swerve; Patrick only just held his balance. "We have to do something!" Elena cried.</p><p>"Like what?" Patrick grabbed onto the kitchen counter.</p><p>Sam's little voice piped up. "Egg the bad guys!"</p><p>Elena and Patrick exchanged a glance. "I've got nothing better," Patrick finally said.</p><p>Sam pulled himself off the couch and darted to the pantry. "You get eggs, I'll get flour."</p><p>Elena gritted her teeth and slid open a window. Patrick took poor aim at one of the cop cars with the eggs, only managing to catch the rear window of one. A giggling Sam poured flour out of the window, covering the cop car.</p><p>The car slowed, falling behind. "It's working!" Sam laughed and ran for the other window. "I'm going to get another one!"</p><p>Swallowing hard, Elena watched the car as it fell behind. A window rolled down, and a hand with a gun emerged.</p><p>"Down!" She grabbed Patrick and threw him to the ground. "Get down, Sam!"</p><p>Gunshots sounded, but no breaking glass.</p><p>Elena couldn't keep herself from shaking. "What do we do?"</p><p>"We slowed them a little," Patrick said. "Let's keep throwing things."</p><p>"Great idea, if we want to die!"</p><p>Patrick nudged her with his foot as he stood. "They wouldn't shoot at us, they don't want to hit Sam."</p><p>"Well, what was that?" Elena remained huddled on the ground.</p><p>"A warning shot. They're not aiming to hit us."</p><p>Elena couldn't bring herself to get up. "Sam, get away from the window!"</p><p>"Probably a good idea, just in case. Elena, you and I have to keep going."</p><p>She breathed in to protest, but another swerve sent her into the far wall as the entire living area tilted to one side. The squawking of the animals had ramped up to be louder than the engines, and Winter ran in panicked laps from Michelle's room to the living room and back.</p><p>"Hang on, one more time!" Michelle shouted from the front, and Elena hung onto Sam with one hand and a leg of the couch with the other.</p><p>One more swerve nearly toppled the motor home, and the road became bumpy. Elena pulled herself up to kneel and peek through the window. She couldn't see any cars following them anymore, but that didn't mean they weren't close behind. Trees surrounded them, and smaller bushes and plants crackled beneath them.</p><p>The camper would be able to handle the rough terrain more easily than the cars would. If there was any place they could go to lose their followers, it would be here.</p><p>"Is everyone okay?" Michelle called back.</p><p>Sam's lip trembled, his eyes wide, as if he was making up his mind about it. Patrick clapped him on his good shoulder. "We're good. Right, buddy?"</p><p>His lips curled into a shaky smile. "We're good, Miss Michelle."</p><p>The camper jounced along through the grass and trees. Elena pulled herself up to stand. "Did we lose them?"</p><p>"I think so. I took a few last-minute turns to throw them off, but they kept catching up. They might have had surveillance from above."</p><p>"Helicopters?" Elena hadn't seen any, but there hadn't exactly been a chance to look up.</p><p>Michelle's eyes met Elena's through the rearview mirror for just a moment. "A lot of police departments have helicopters. If Tech United has the police in their hands, they've got access, too. So I waited until no one was in viewing range, then drove under the trees."</p><p>Elena's stomach turned. "Okay, but can't they just pick us up in infrared?"</p><p>"What's infrared?" Sam asked.</p><p>"Cameras that see heat instead of light." That wasn't exactly right, but it was how her dad had explained it to her, long ago.</p><p>"You're probably right, Elena, they probably do have infrared cameras. It's just going to be a lot harder for them while we're here."</p><p>Sam sat down on the couch. "I don't want to go back to the Tech United place."</p><p>"That's why we came to rescue you," Patrick said.</p><p>Elena knelt down in front of him. "Sam, what did they do to you there?"</p><p>"They said I was special. They gave me that plastic box thingy again, and the numbers were going all crazy again, I think worse than before even."</p><p>"But what made you jump through the window."</p><p>"I didn't want to go into the machine thing!"</p><p>Elena glanced back at Patrick, who shrugged and shook his head. "What machine?" she asked.</p><p>"It was like this big tube thing, and they said I had to lie down in it and it would take pictures of me."</p><p>"Like an MRI?" Elena took out her phone and did a quick image search for MRI machines. She showed one to Sam. "Like this?"</p><p>"Kind of, I think so."</p><p>Elena stood and turned toward Michelle. "They tried to give him an MRI. Why would they do that?"</p><p>"Might have been some kind of scanner that looked like an MRI machine," Michelle called back. "Sam, did they say what they were doing?"</p><p>"They said they were scanning for namolomies."</p><p>Anomalies. So they were open with Sam about what they were doing—just not clear enough for him to understand. It figured. "Did they say why they wanted to scan you?"</p><p>"Because namolomies means I have special needs but they could use them to move the world forward or something."</p><p>Appeal to scientific advance to an eight-year-old. Not surprising that that hadn't worked. "So they tried to put you in the machine—"</p><p>"They put me in the room with it, then locked me in to go get a medicine. They were mean. I ran away." He pulled his knees into his chest. "What are namolomies? Are they like demons? Do you have to burn them out?"</p><p>"No, Sam." Patrick sat down on the couch next to him. "We're not going to hurt you. We're not going to let anyone hurt you. That's why we took you away from there."</p><p>Sam smiled just slightly before he tightened his grip on his knees. "Where are we going now?"</p><p>"Good question." Elena turned to Michelle again.</p><p>Michelle was silent, staring at the path ahead of her, wearing the face she always wore when she was deep in thought. Elena let her eyes fall closed, and she almost immediately lost her balance and stumbled forward. She sighed.</p><p>"Hm." She glanced around at the animals in the room, the overturned cages, the items that had fallen from the pantry, the empty egg carton and bags of flour. It reminded her of camp.</p><p>They still had all of the equipment to run camp, and it had been simple demos that had allowed them to first see that Sam was special. If Tech United wasn't going to try to discover what was behind Sam's anomalies, maybe they should.</p><p>They knew nothing about the nature of the anomalies. But they could find out. It seemed everything had started back at the host school . . .</p><p>"Back to camp," Elena said.</p><p>"Won't they be looking for us there?"</p><p>"We won't go all the way in, not with the camper. We'll scope it out first. But that's where all this started. We need to find out what's going on with Sam's anomalies."</p><p>Patrick raised his eyebrows. "Elena, this isn't time for you to be doing one of your science experiments."</p><p>"It's not about me!" She held her temples in her hands. "Everything is about the anomalies, Patrick. <em>Everything</em>. Tech United, they were looking for anomalies. Maybe it's not why they came to evaluate us, but it's why they stayed longer than they needed to. Jim was just going to check in and out, then he did a bunch of research on me to get me to crack once he saw what happened when Sam was around."</p><p>"Okay, but they could just be crazy."</p><p>"Patrick, a multi-billion dollar corporation thought these anomalies were worth testing. Sam." She turned back to him. "Yes, you're special, but I don't think you have special <em>needs</em>. I think you have special <em>abilities.</em>"</p><p>Sam released his grip on his knees a little and smiled, wiping his nose.</p><p>"Okay, I get it," Patrick said. "We have to figure out what's going on with the anomalies. But why does that mean we go back to the camp?"</p><p>"For all we know, they started there. If so, maybe we can find a clue about where they came from. And if not, we can still see if any of Sam's—" his wide eyes looked at her— "<em>powers</em> affected anything there."</p><p>Sam grinned, Patrick winked at Elena, and Michelle called back, "I'll head back to camp just as soon as I can get onto a main road."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Recon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Minutes after they reached the main road, where the ride was much smoother and less jarring, Sam drifted off to sleep on the couch. Elena couldn't blame him. He'd been through enough, and even though they were fairly minor, his injuries would need plenty of rest to heal. She made her rounds to all of the animals in the room, feeding the ones that needed to be fed and comforting the ones she could, then she took her usual place at the kitchen table.</p><p>Patrick sat down across from her. He let out his breath, and she did the same. "Week two of camp, for me," he said.</p><p>A deep pang of guilt stabbed her from within. She'd spent most of week one criticizing his techniques and getting down on him for his mistakes. But this week, the errors had been all hers—much more, and much worse, mistakes than the ones Patrick had made the week before. She'd failed to set up activities that worked, fixated on a single camper with the end of result of injuring him for no reason, and made a terrible impression on an evaluator from the company that funded them.</p><p>All Patrick had done wrong was break a couple of beakers and short circuit some batteries. He didn't know anything about science, but she barely knew anything about kids.</p><p>Elena breathed in to apologize for being hard on him, but what came out was, "Sorry this week isn't going the way you hoped."</p><p>He shrugged. "I was looking for an adventure. I got it."</p><p>She smiled wryly. "You're still getting it. We're not out of the woods yet, and I can't imagine how this could possibly end well."</p><p>"Can you ever?"</p><p>Elena flinched.</p><p>He shook his head. "Elena, what would be a good ending to you?"</p><p>She looked away, setting her hands on the table. He had a point. They couldn't run forever, but how could they give Sam up? Who could be trusted with him?</p><p>They could learn what his needs—his <em>gifts</em>—were. Somehow, science didn't work quite right on him—if that was the right way to say it. They could find out how the rules were different, they could learn to work with them. And maybe . . .</p><p>"We can teach Sam to control his abilities."</p><p>Patrick raised one eyebrow.</p><p>Her words started to pick up pace as she went on. "If he can control his abilities, it won't matter if Tech United catches up to him. He can just stop the anomalies from happening, and they won't find anything worth studying. We'll still be kidnappers, but if Sam can talk about what Tech United was trying to do to him, and how we rescued him, maybe we can explain ourselves. And they'll be the ones that look crazy, if there aren't really any anomalies."</p><p>"I see."</p><p>"That's what we should do, right?" Elena kept looking right at his eyes, but he was looking away from her at this point. "It all comes down to that. We have to teach him how to control his abilities."</p><p>Patrick sighed. "If you say so."</p><p>Elena glanced out the window. She recognized a few of the shops and gas stations they'd passed on their way into the part of the city where the host school was.</p><p>She was breathing in to ask him what he thought would be a good ending to their situation, when Michelle called out to them. "Hey, team, we're almost there. I'm going to park a few blocks away from the school. I need you all to stay in the car, I'll head over on my own to scope out the site."</p><p>Elena bit her lip—Michelle would stick out like a sore thumb hanging around an elementary school during the summer. Elena, on the other hand, might be able to aim her walk around the time a local high school let out its summer students, and casually pass by wearing a backpack. "Shouldn't one of us go? I mean, won't people notice you?"</p><p>"Maybe, but I'm not sending any of you into danger."</p><p>"You're putting us in more danger if you leave us and get caught."</p><p>Michelle winced, and she watched the road for a moment before letting her breath out. "Okay. Patrick, you go."</p><p>Patrick blinked. "What? Why me?"</p><p>"Because you can keep a calm look on your face even when you're stressed. Elena, sorry, but you can't. And it's not like we can send Sam."</p><p>Patrick stood from the couch, but Elena could see his knees shaking. "Okay, but if I'm out there walking by myself, that might not be the best."</p><p>Elena stood to stand beside him. She wouldn't have expected him to be the one to be afraid at this moment. "What if we both go?"</p><p>"Okay, fine, just—be careful. One of you hang back a little so you can watch the other one's back."</p><p>"I'm—I'm happy to hang back," Patrick said.</p><p>Michelle pulled the camper into the parking lot of a shopping center. Elena bit her lip. There was no way they could avoid being conspicuous with a motor home in the middle of the city, but that was the thing about San Francisco. There were already enough weird things around that no one would specifically target them as the odd ones.</p><p>"Remember," Michelle called as they left the camper, "you're ordinary teenagers. You're not up to anything weird. You're just trying to get home."</p><p>"Hey!" Sam raced to the door and leaned out. "What about me?"</p><p>"Sam!" Elena took a step back toward him. "I thought you were asleep!"</p><p>"I woke up. Where are you going?"</p><p>"We have to run an errand."</p><p>"Cool!" He jumped down out of the camper.</p><p>"Get back in there, someone might—" She stopped herself. They hadn't talked to him much about what was happening; they'd have to be careful when they did, or he would panic for the rest of the time they had him.</p><p>"Sam." Patrick knelt down in front of him. "You go back in and take care of the animals while we're gone. Can you do that?"</p><p>His brow furrowed, and he nodded and ran back up the stairs.</p><p>Patrick let his breath out. "We'll be back in a few, Michelle. No worries about us."</p><p>"I'll keep the engine running in case we need a quick getaway."</p><p>Patrick turned away, so only Elena saw him grimace. She let herself smile. "Hey, now. Didn't peg you for a coward."</p><p>"You should talk." He kept his eyes forward as they walked down the street.</p><p>"I worry when there's someone judging me, but when it matters—" She shrugged. "I do what needs to be done."</p><p>"Yeah. You worry about things that don't matter. I worry when people I care about are in danger. So you're right. I worry when it matters. And you know what?" His pace quickened a bit as his jaw set. "I'm still doing what needs to be done. So keep it to yourself, Elena."</p><p>His words stung more than she would have admitted. She'd only meant to tease him initially, to lighten the mood. For the second time that afternoon, she breathed in to apologize, but this time she couldn't say anything. She didn't even want to. She'd teased him; he'd insulted her, hard.</p><p>They walked in silence, tension thick enough to feel tangibly in the air. She didn't want to walk side by side with him, but she certainly didn't want to fall behind and follow him, and every time she quickened her pace to pass him, he sped up as well. So they walked side by side, avoiding eye contact.</p><p>It wasn't a long walk to the camp site, though it felt like hours. Elena stopped abruptly when they were a block away. "Hey," she said, "Michelle said someone should hang back."</p><p>Patrick's jaw pulsed. "I'm not hanging back. I'm not a coward."</p><p>Elena rolled her eyes. "I didn't mean it."</p><p>"I'm not an idiot, either."</p><p>"I didn't say you were an idiot."</p><p>"You didn't have to."</p><p>Elena had never seen him even annoyed until today. He was the loose, carefree one; she was the one who was supposed to get stressed and worried and offended by insults. "You choose <em>now</em> to start caring about things?"</p><p>He breathed in as if to speak, then closed his mouth, shaking his head. "Just go. I'll wait here."</p><p>Elena winced. "I didn't mean—"</p><p>"Go before someone notices us. Michelle is going to wonder where we've been."</p><p>She clenched her fists, then turned to continue walking toward the school. Only her legs froze.</p><p>What would they find there? Would Tech United have returned to the place where the anomalies were first found? If it was Elena's first idea of a place to go to learn more about them, other than putting Sam into an enormous MRI-like scanner, she wouldn't be the only ones who thought of it.</p><p>If she was spotted, they would take her in. They'd find a way to get her to talk. Maybe they'd even manipulate her, convince her that what they were doing was right. She could run—but she'd lead them back to the camper, and even if she didn't, they'd know the camper was near, and then—</p><p>"Thought you were going."</p><p>Elena swallowed hard and turned back to Patrick.</p><p>He nodded. "Let's go together."</p><p>Again, they walked side by side. "When we first get there," she whispered, "we just do a walk by. See if there's anyone there, but just pass by so they don't know we're trying to get in or anything."</p><p>"Okay. Good idea."</p><p>Elena squeezed her eyes shut, then forced herself to put on a smile. "Patrick, we have to act like high schoolers. Like, normal teenagers."</p><p>He nodded, and his facial features settled, calming. It was the exact expression he usually wore during camp—like there wasn't a care in the world.</p><p>It didn't make her feel much better, but it was better this way. "Okay. What do we pretend to be?"</p><p>"What do you mean?" His nearly-flippant tone from camp had returned.</p><p>"If someone does ask, we have to say what we are."</p><p>"If someone talks to us, don't we just run?"</p><p>"Only if they figure out who we are. Running is suspicious. We're normal teenagers."</p><p>"Okay, fine. What do you want to be?"</p><p>"Friends from summer school. We're heading home to study."</p><p>He scoffed. "That's believable."</p><p>She raised her eyebrows. "Should we be brother and sister?"</p><p>He laughed. "I'm white, you're Asian."</p><p>"Half," she said. "We could be adopted."</p><p>"Nah. We're cutting afternoon classes."</p><p>"Just the two of us?"</p><p>He held out his hand. "Elena Homes, would you do me the honor of being my fake girlfriend?"</p><p>She glared at him while placing her hand in his.</p><p>"Hey, there," he said, "that's not the face you'd be making walking hand in hand with your boyfriend."</p><p>Elena wouldn't know. The drama at home had kept her from pursuing anyone, even if she had wanted to. Besides, her focus was on college. Still, she made herself smile and even scoot a little closer to Patrick as they approached the school.</p><p>"Don't look toward it," she whispered. "Just, like, out of the corner of your eye."</p><p>She couldn't see much, but it didn't take much. Two people were exiting in the building in hazmat suits, carrying a few pieces of equipment Elena had left behind in the hurry to reach the facility. A man in a suit stood outside the door and took a step back when the two emerged. She could just make out a few more on each side of the school, carrying pieces of machinery, scanning the premises.</p><p>"Okay. We're not going to be able to go in," she said.</p><p>"Back to the camper?"</p><p>Elena couldn't help it—she turned to face the school building, just for a moment. She locked eyes with the man in the suit.</p><p>Jim.</p><p>"Cover blown," she whispered.</p><p>"What do we do?"</p><p>"<em>Run.</em>"</p>
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<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Regroup</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Patrick gripped her hand harder, and they raced across the street. She screamed as two cars screeched to a stop and the drivers leaned out of the windows to shout and swear at them.</p><p>"Sorry!" she shouted back, and they kept running. She glanced over her shoulder—two men in hazmat suits had taken their helmets off and were running after them on the other side of the street.</p><p>"We've got to lose them," Elena said.</p><p>Patrick let go of her hand. "This way."</p><p>She followed him to the fence leading into a backyard. He climbed over and jumped down onto the opposite side and kept running. She took a deep breath and pulled herself up and over the cold, spiky wire fence, but the ground on the other side slammed her feet harder than she expected, and the air rushed out of her lungs.</p><p>Patrick turned back to her. "Okay?"</p><p>She nodded and kept running. Sirens began to wail.</p><p>"The sirens won't stop following us!" Elena shouted.</p><p>"It's okay, those guys can't jump the fences in those suits. We'll lose them." He jumped up onto the wooden fence that divided the two neighbors' yards. "But only if we keep moving."</p><p>His voice sounded out of breath, and Elena's lungs burned. She jumped onto the fence but couldn't pull herself up. He reached down and grabbed her by the arm. "Never pegged you as one who needed rescuing," he said, laughing.</p><p>She scoffed and pushed him down from the fence. He scrambled to his feet, she climbed down, and they ran again.</p><p>A low, deep barking sounded, and an enormous German Shepherd chased them to the next fence. Patrick had made it to the top of this fence already, but Elena trailed behind.</p><p>"Come on!"</p><p>"I'm coming!" She only just made it to the fence in time for the dog to reach her. A sharp pain seared in her ankle as the dog bit down—her pant leg tore as she pulled away.</p><p>Patrick landed on her feet into the space behind the yard, but Elena fell onto her side. "You okay?"</p><p>"I'm—I'm—" She pulled himself to his feet and limped. Her ankle burned, and cold sweat broke out all over her body. "I'm okay. Let's go."</p><p>She took his hand again, and they ran, slower than before, through the grass in the park where they had landed. "Trees over this way. We've lost them, but they'll have a harder time finding us here."</p><p>They slowed their pace to a walk, and Elena went to lean against a tree. She pulled out her cell phone, scrolled through her contacts, and called Michelle.</p><p>Michelle answered on the first ring. "What's the news?"</p><p>"There's people swarming the school. People in hazmat suits, they saw us and we had to run. And I got hurt."</p><p>"What happened?"</p><p>"Got bitten. Dog in a yard we had to run through."</p><p>"Can you get back here?"</p><p>Elena's next breath came shuddering. "We're not coming back to where you are. We'll have to catch up with you later."</p><p>"<em>What?</em>" Patrick cried.</p><p>Elena lowered her phone and hit the speaker button.</p><p>Michelle's words came in fierce. "Elena, you get back here, do you hear me?"</p><p>"No. They're going to know you're close. They're going to start searching the area, so you and Sam need to get far away. Get on the road, and we'll catch a train. We'll meet you in—" In her mind, she scanned through the city names she'd seen on the map, but she couldn't remember where any of them were. "Well, you just start heading south. We'll get on a train going south and catch up to you, I'll call you when we know where we're going."</p><p>Michelle was silent for a moment. "I trust you, Elena," she said finally.</p><p>"See you soon." Elena hung up and turned to Patrick.</p><p>"How is it?" he asked</p><p>She sunk to the ground, and he knelt in front of her. She peeled back the torn fabric and winced at the torn skin. She took off her sweater and tied it around her ankle. The pressure hurt, but there was nothing she could do about it.</p><p>"It might get infected," Patrick said</p><p>"This'll at least stop the bleeding. Michelle will know what to do when we do get back to the motor home."</p><p>"Do you need to go to the hospital?"</p><p>Elena breathed hard. They couldn't do that. It was like Patrick said—they had to keep moving. "Maybe. But Michelle might be able to fix me up. She has some medical training, she was in med school for awhile."</p><p>His brow furrowed. "What kind of training doesn't she have?"</p><p>Elena grinned against the pain. "She's no engineer. That's why she needs me."</p><p>"But seriously. What's she doing working for Camp Universe?"</p><p>Elena shrugged. "Apparently, she volunteered on site as a counselor one summer and fell in love."</p><p>Patrick let his breath out.</p><p>It was quiet for a few minutes. When Elena's breathing had slowed down, she reached down and started to untie the sweater from her leg. Ideally, she'd leave it on until they got back to Michelle, but it looked strange, and it would attract too much attention if she was walking around with a sweater tied to her leg. The fabric had stuck to the skin in places, and ripping it off restarted the bleeding and freshened the pain. However, it didn't bleed as much as before, and she was able to stand, albeit putting most of her weight on her left foot.</p><p>"Let's go." Elena limped down the dirt path. "We passed a train station a few blocks back."</p><p>Patrick held out his hand, but she pretended not to notice.</p><hr/><p>The train ride was, thankfully, uneventful. Elena picked a random station on the map and called Michelle to meet them there. They kept quiet and kept their heads down, and Elena limited her limping as much as she could, though it was almost more than she could take when the train was standing room only.</p><p>The sun was already starting to set as they arrived back at the motor home, and Michelle had been waiting for them for awhile in the parking lot of the train station. The smells of dinner wafted throughout the cabin area, and Elena suppressed a smile. Leave it to Michelle to keep things running as if they were normal, even in the midst of chaos.</p><p>Elena had expected the pain to dull with time, but it seared worse now than before. She sat silently at the table as Patrick told the story of everything that had happened as Michelle cleaned and properly bandaged Elena's ankle. Sam sat on the couch playing a game on Michelle's phone.</p><p>"So going back to the camp is out," Patrick said. "What do we do now?"</p><p>"We've got to get out of here. Get as far as we can." Michelle stood to stir the pot for a moment, then turned back around to face them. "Obviously, we don't have much of a choice there. But we've got to keep an end game in mind. We can't just run for the rest of our lives."</p><p>Elena settled back in her chair and closed her eyes, but it did nothing to help her focus this time. If anything, it helped her focus on the pain in her ankle. So she returned to the conclusion she had drawn the last time she had had time to think in silence. "We need to find out what's going on with Sam's anomalies. We don't know anything about what's going on until we know what Tech United is looking for."</p><p>Sam looked up from his game and locked eyes with her.</p><p>"I don't know if those people in hazmat suits found anything at the school. If they didn't, we're not at any disadvantage yet. They don't know much more than we do."</p><p>"Other than whatever they were able to find out through the experimentation at the facility," Michelle said.</p><p>"Okay, yes. But if they did learn something from the camp, maybe we can learn the same things from retracing Sam's steps."</p><p>Now all eyes turned toward Sam, and he lowered his game onto the couch.</p><p>"Sam," Elena said, "where were you living before you came to camp?"</p><p>His eyes grew very round. "You're not going to take me back there."</p><p>"No, of course not." Patrick glared at Elena. "We'd never do that to you."</p><p>Elena shot him a look back. "Okay, yeah, we're never going to make you live there again. But they might know some things, so it might be worth—"</p><p>"They're worth nothing."</p><p>Elena took a deep breath. Her ankle throbbed in time with her heart beat. "Okay, I know. But they might have seen the anomalies. And—" she cleared her throat— "mistaken them for demons."</p><p>Sam pulled his knees into his chest.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Ideas</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It took some coaxing for Sam to give up the address where the Wilsons had lived. Even once he did, he sat pouting for a long time. Eventually, Patrick pulled out his phone, sat down next to him, and showed him funny videos until he was able to smile again, and then until he showed him a drawing app until was too tired to keep his eyes open.</p><p>Elena was surprised by how far Sam had gotten in the couple of weeks he'd been on the run. It was almost a two hour drive between the camp and the Wilson house. Sam had probably snuck onto public transportation a few times.</p><p>Michelle rinsed the remainder of the dishes in the sink while Elena sat at the table with her foot up on a chair. Patrick very slowly stood, leaving Sam asleep on the couch. "Should I just let him sleep there?" he asked Michelle.</p><p>She nodded. "If it's okay. Actually, I've got to take a look at Elena's ankle. If you could drive for awhile, we can at least get out of the range of where Tech United will be looking for us."</p><p>"Should I head to the Wilsons?"</p><p>"No, not directly. Let's take a roundabout path to get there. We'll trek a little ways into the mountains, see if we can find a rest stop to replenish the camper, and we'll make the rest of the drive in the morning."</p><p>Patrick picked up the keys from the table and headed up to the cab. Elena's heart pounded. "Meet in your room?"</p><p>Michelle nodded. "I don't have anesthetic. You'd be better off at a real hospital."</p><p>Elena steeled herself. "I don't want to be the reason we get caught. We have to keep moving."</p><p>"We may have to ditch the motor home," Michelle said. "We're going to be pretty noticeable."</p><p>Elena picked up Winter, who was sniffing at the torn area of her jeans. "We've got a lot of supplies here. We'll have more chances of getting caught if we have to stop for food and things every day."</p><p>Michelle's eyes softened. "Elena, I know you don't want to leave the animals behind."</p><p>She took a deep breath and gripped Winter tighter. "Let's get this over with."</p><p>Michelle's room was only big enough to hold her bed, with just enough room around the edges for walking. Elena dragged a chair into the room and sat down to roll up her pant leg. The skin had swollen, and the wounds were a darker red. No blood flowed, but the air still felt cold on the wound.</p><p>"Elena, you need stitches."</p><p>"Can you do stitches?"</p><p>"I don't have anesthetic."</p><p>"That's not my question."</p><p>Michelle straightened up and nodded. "Okay, Elena. I'll grab my things. But listen to me." She looked her directly in the eyes. "You have to keep quiet. I don't want Sam waking up and walking in to see this, and I don't want any cars around us to call 911."</p><p>Elena nodded, and Michelle left to rummage through a cupboard. She gripped the armrest of the chair with one hand and clung onto Winter, sitting up straighter in the chair.</p><p>Michelle brought in a second chair for Elena to prop her leg up onto. "I'm going to keep you talking." She pressed a disinfecting pad into the open wound, and the room swam as her leg flared up in icy fire. "Have you ever seen anomalies like these before?"</p><p>"Of course not." She leaned back as much as she could in her chair, staring at the ceiling rather than down at Michelle's work. "But I'm concerned."</p><p>"Not just about us being chased?"</p><p>"I'm concerned about the anomalies themselves. I mean, they could be really dangerous."</p><p>"Dangerous how?" She pierced the first needle into the tenderest spot on Elena's leg, and Elena gasped.</p><p>"The—" Elena took a deep breath— "the world as we know it is stable because science works. It works the same everywhere and for everyone. There are . . . constants."</p><p>"Right."</p><p>"And we're telling Sam he has special abilities, but it's not an ability, exactly. It's just something that happens. Sometimes, science works differently for him—not because he chose to make it happen, but because it just <em>does,</em> around him."</p><p>"He doesn't control it."</p><p>"Exactly, he—<em>ah!</em>" Another pinprick.</p><p>"Sorry. Just a few left to go." A short pause. "I don't know, Elena. None of us controls how science works for ourselves."</p><p>"But we can learn the rules and trust them not to change on us. Sam can't."</p><p>"Last one, this is a tough one."</p><p>Elena squeezed her eyes shut for the last searing pinprick, then she released her breath and her tensed muscles.</p><p>"You okay?"</p><p>"Yeah." She sat up in her chair and faced Michelle, who still knelt on the floor. "But I have some hope for Sam. His anomalies aren't exactly a constant. So maybe he can learn to control them."</p><p>Michelle sat down across from her. "I think Tech United would like to control them."</p><p>Elena's eyes widened. She should have realized. Of course that was what they wanted—if Sam, if <em>anyone</em>, had the ability to alter the rules of science, and if Tech United could harness that, they could control anything they wanted.</p><p>Michelle sighed. "That's my best guess. That's why I've been going along with your suggestions to find out more about the anomalies. We can get a sense of what Tech United is trying to do if we know what's going on."</p><p>"You know what, though?" Elena stood and stumbled—she'd forgotten for a moment to keep most of her weight on her left foot. "If he can control his abilities, Tech United won't be able to."</p><p>"Maybe not." Michelle stood as well, and she began to move the chairs from her room back to the kitchen table. "That's going to be your job, Elena."</p><p>"What will?"</p><p>"To teach him how to control his abilities."</p><p>Elena snorted. "You've seen me with kids. Patrick should be the one to work with him."</p><p>Michelle shrugged. "You're the one who knows enough about engineering to design the tests, and enough about science to know if anything out of the ordinary is happening."</p><p>Elena lowered Winter to the floor. "I don't know."</p><p>"Well, think about it. Sleep on it." Michelle returned to her room and put a hand on the doorjamb. "Because we can't run forever. Eventually, we're going to have to figure out who we can trust. Sam's eight. He needs a home."</p><p>Elena pressed her lips together. That word—home—didn't mean much to her now.</p><p>"Speaking of which, I'm going to need to make some calls to my family. You should call home, too."</p><p>She shook her head. "My mom and I—"</p><p>"I don't care that you're fighting. You're in danger, you call her." Michelle breathed in to speak again, but her tone softened. "Do you want to talk about it?"</p><p>Elena looked away. Michelle had stopped asking partway through the summer the year before. Elena never wanted to talk about it.</p><p>"Fine. I'm turning in. In the morning, we'll talk to Sam about what you're going to teach him."</p><p>"Night, Michelle."</p><p>"Night, Elena." She gently closed the door behind her, and Elena limped back into the living room, pulled down the ladder to the loft, and climbed up using her arms more than her feet—her right leg dangled uselessly.</p><p>Elena laid awake for a long time in her bed. A few times, she got as far as hovering her thumb over the call button by her mom's number in her phone. But every time, she'd remember the way her mom had looked at her when she'd found out that Elena was searching for her dad. She'd hear the yelling in her mind again—none of the words, only the tone of voice—and she'd darken the screen again.</p><p>She'd left that life behind her. Michelle didn't have to understand.</p><p>Best to focus on the task at hand. Elena jotted down notes in her phone about ideas for experiments they could run with Sam. Some were inspired by the less invasive experiments the lab had conducted, but many were her own ideas. She thought of the questions she'd need to ask to coach him, and even planned in advance what she might be able to say to encourage him.</p><p>Because this would be frustrating, and Sam might not take it very well. They were doing something new. Completely new. And if no one had done this, no one knew how. They would all be learning. She smiled to herself—it wasn't how she had expected her summer to go, but discovering something unheard of might be some consolation.</p><p>Hopefully they would pick up some clues at Sam's old house. Tech United wouldn't know to stop there, which meant that the Camp Universe team would have some information that Tech United didn't—which was good, because Tech United almost certainly had information that she didn't.</p><p>She fell asleep still wracking her brain for what the plastic box with the counters might actually be measuring.</p>
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<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Weird</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Elena sat across from Sam at the breakfast table over cereal. It was weird to have all four of them at the table at once—the night before, they had spent dinner in their own corners of the cabin, since the tension was still higher. Up until this morning, they had only ever had up to three, and the table was even small for that. Now, there was no room at all for elbows.</p><p>Elena glanced at Michelle, who nodded, but she couldn't think of how to explain to Sam what she wanted to do. "So, Sam."</p><p>His eyes were wide and his hair messy as he set down the spoon. "What?"</p><p>"We, um, we need to learn more about your anomalies."</p><p>"Why?" His eyebrows furrowed. "Are they bad?"</p><p>"No, but it's a good idea for your to be able to control them."</p><p>"Why?"</p><p>"Well, because . . ." She didn't want to tell him they could be dangerous, even if it was true. The last thing she needed was to begin by teaching him to be scared of himself.</p><p>"Because." Patrick smiled. "You have special powers, right? Like a superhero."</p><p>Sam straightened up in his seat. "Yeah!"</p><p>"And every superhero has to learn how to always use their powers for good."</p><p>"I will! I won't do evil things."</p><p>"Okay, but can you control your powers?"</p><p>"What do you mean, control?"</p><p>"Like . . ." Patrick turned back to Elena.</p><p>This part she could do. "Like, you remember the monochromatic room?"</p><p>"The what?"</p><p>"The colorblind room."</p><p>"Yes." He slumped in his seat. "I was bad at that."</p><p>"Actually, you weren't bad at it. You were just using your superhero power." The words felt clunky in her mouth, but Patrick grinned, laughing under his breath.</p><p>His brow furrowed. "Really?"</p><p>"Yeah. Think about it, Sam. No one else can see blue in the monochromatic—I mean, in the colorblind room. They're all colorblind. But you can see it. And you can help other people see it."</p><p>"Yeah!" He bounced in his seat a little.</p><p>Elena and Patrick exchanged a glance. "Well," Elena said, "did you make that happen on purpose?"</p><p>"No, my powers just did it by themselves."</p><p>She nodded slowly. They were succeeding in keeping his spirits high, but she didn't want to get him too excited. "What if you wanted to hide your powers?"</p><p>"Why would I do that?"</p><p>"Um—" She turned to Patrick.</p><p>"Be . . . cause . . ." He shook his head at Elena, but she just kept nodding. "Because sometimes superheroes have to keep their powers a secret. To protect people they care about! Because superpowers are a secret."</p><p>"But you guys are the only people I care about."</p><p>A heavy weight settled deep on Elena's chest. "Okay," she said finally. "Then would you do this for us?"</p><p>"Do what?"</p><p>"Learn how to control your powers."</p><p>He looked up thoughtfully, uncrossing his arms. "I don't think I can."</p><p>Michelle nudged him and spoke up for the first time. "Well, maybe Miss Elena can teach you."</p><p>Sam gasped. "Miss Elena! You have superpowers, too?"</p><p>Elena breathed in to respond, but Michelle beat her to it. "Yeah, she does. She's an engineer."</p><p>"What's that?"</p><p>"It means she's really good with science stuff. She makes experiments and equipment and stuff for camp, and she makes everything work."</p><p>He wrinkled his nose. "So Elena's power is making things work, and my power is making things not work?"</p><p>Elena grimaced.</p><p>"Yeah, kind of," Patrick said. "Elena makes things work better than anyone else can. You make things work <em>different</em> than anyone else can."</p><p>Sam slumped in his seat.</p><p>Elena sighed. "Look, Sam, I'm going to be honest with you."</p><p>Patrick shook his head and hands, but Elena continued.</p><p>"We don't know exactly what your powers are or how they work. But we know you have them. And we know they're pretty awesome, because the biggets company in the world really wants to find out about them and do experiments."</p><p>"But we're not doing that, right?"</p><p>"Of course not," Elena said, though she realized as she said it that she wasn't quite sure how truthful she was being. "Nothing you're not comfortable with." That part was true. "We won't let them get you, because we don't want them to know about your powers. But we do want <em>you </em>to know about them. Because they're yours."</p><p>"So—" Sam let out a heavy sigh— "I have to learn how to control my powers so the bad guys can't use them for evil, and so I can use them for good, only sometimes I have to keep them secret because it might not be safe."</p><p>"Yes, exactly!" Patrick gave him a high five. "Because that's what <em>every </em>superhero has to do."</p><p><em>Close enough</em>, Elena thought. If it made Sam excited rather than intimidated at the thought of learning how to control the anomalies, she could work with it.</p><p>"So how do we start?"</p><p>Michelle stood from the table, picking up Sam's empty cereal bowl as she went. "I'm going to get us on the road. You all can talk about this, let me know if you need me." She disappeared out the side door of the cabin, and the engine started up soon after.</p><p>"Let's start with this." Elena walked over to the last box that hadn't been loaded up yet in the hurry of everything that had happened the day before. "You learned how to light a light bulb yesterday, right?"</p><p>"No. I didn't get it."</p><p>"Well, maybe there's a reason. I've got a light bulb in here." She rummaged for the plastic box of little bulbs and wires, and found the box of batteries. She touched the contacts to make sure the bulb would work—a dim little glow shone from the bulb—then she placed the materials down on the table in front of Sam.</p><p>He picked up the bulb, wires, and battery, and put them in place exactly the way Elena would have done herself. Elena raised her eyebrows, impressed by how quickly he had figured it out, but then she remembered that this was the third time he'd been asked to do this in three days. He knew how to build a circuit.</p><p>But the circuit didn't work. The bulb didn't light.</p><p>"Hm. Can I see how you have it set up?"</p><p>He lifted the bulb, wires, and battery, and she could see how the metal connected. Perfectly.</p><p>"That is so weird."</p><p>He whimpered. "Miss Elena, can I let it go? It's getting really warm."</p><p>"I don't know why, you're not short circuiting—"</p><p>"Please!"</p><p>"Okay, let me take it!"</p><p>He dropped it into her open hands, and she gasped. The bulb—not the metal—radiated heat.</p><p>"Hm." It was as if the bulb had still been lighting up, but the light was invisible. "So, Sam, did you feel anything when that happened?"</p><p>"When what happened?"</p><p>"When you used your power."</p><p>His eyes widened. "I used my power?"</p><p>"You kept the light bulb from lighting up."</p><p>He crossed his arms. "Anyone can do that. I want to make it <em>actually</em> light up."</p><p>Elena smiled. "No, anyone can do <em>that</em>. No one can keep a light bulb from lighting up when everything is set up right." She put the circuit back together on the table, and her breath caught in her throat.</p><p>The bulb still wouldn't light. And the glass felt warm.</p><p>"Let me try something." She picked up the materials and walked far from the table, to the front wall of the camper, with the animals. She reset the circuit, and the light bulb turned on. She walked back to where Sam was sitting, keeping the circuit intact, and the bulb dimmed and went out as she sat down at the table. The heat continued and increased until she put down the materials.</p><p>"It's whenever the bulb is close to you, Sam." Even having seen the anomalies work firsthand didn't stop her from being a little shocked at how clear, how unyielding the results were.</p><p>"I can't stop it, though!"</p><p>Elena bit her lip. "Well, maybe we can figure it out."</p><p>"I don't know how. I'm failing at this, aren't I?" Sam pouted.</p><p>"No, you—"</p><p>"Yeah." Patrick grinned. "You are failing. And that's okay! Real heroes fail lots of times before they figure out how to use their powers. It's going to take lots of practice, and we'll be here to help you. Okay?"</p><p>Sam shrugged, but the beginning of a smile played with the corners of his lips.</p><p>"Sam, look at me." Patrick put a hand on his shoulder. "I need you to work really hard for Miss Elena. You do anything she tells you to do."</p><p>Sam nodded, and turned back to Elena with a solemn expression. "What was the question again?"</p><p>Elena smiled a little. She wasn't sure why Michelle had thought she would be best for this task. "So, what do you feel when you use your powers?"</p><p>"I don't know."</p><p>"Let's see if we can find out." She picked back up the bulb, wires, and battery. "Close your eyes."</p><p>"Why?"</p><p>"I want you to focus on what you feel. See if you can tell when I'm setting up the circuit."</p><p>He wrinkled his nose, but finally closed his eyes and rested his chin in his hands.</p><p>She waited a moment, for his features to relax, then she touched the contacts to the battery. She released the contacts, then put them back together.</p><p>"Is it on right now?"</p><p>"Yes."</p><p>He nodded and opened his eyes. "I think I can feel it."</p><p>Elena's heartrate quickened. "Yeah? What does it feel like?"</p><p>"It feels . . ." He scrunched up his face and drummed his fingers on the table. "It feels <em>weird</em>."</p><p>Elena took a deep breath. "Weird how?"</p><p>"I don't know. It's this weird feeling I get every time I do a science experiment. Yeah!" He beamed. "It's the feeling like doing a science experiment!"</p><p>"And what does that feel like?"</p><p>He laughed. "You know, you do science all the time!"</p><p>Elena clenched her teeth, and Patrick laughed along with Sam. "You know what? Miss Elena doesn't know, because she has a different superpower from you!" Patrick turned to her. "So, Miss Elena, can you explain what it feels like to you, when you do an experiment."</p><p>She shot Patrick a look. "How do you expect me to—"</p><p>He raised his eyebrows.</p><p><em>Right</em>. If she was expecting Sam to be able to describe something indescribable, she should at least give it her best effort.</p><p>"Let me think about it." She closed her eyes and tried to relax. She remembered all those hours in her dad's shop, a screwdriver in her hand. She remembered that engineering class from high school, the keyboard on her lap, the monitor in front of her, the tiny robot rolling forward and backwards on the table beside her while her lab partner cheered that they'd finally figured out the programming. She remembered the first time she'd ever learned how the Northern Lights work, the first time she'd ever measured the speed of light . . .</p><p>"What does it feel like?"</p><p>"Have you ever done a puzzle, Sam?"</p><p>He nodded.</p><p>"It feels like when you've been looking for the piece that goes somewhere, for a long time, and you finally find it." She grinned. "It feels like being warm inside when it's cold outside. It feels like being in a quiet room when the rest of the room is noisy and everyone's yelling at each other." Like things working against all odds. Like the nature of the universe showing itself, just a little, just to Elena, just differently than anyone else had ever seen it before. Like uncovering the outlines of God's fingerprints.</p><p>Sam laughed. "Yeah, it doesn't feel like that at <em>all</em>."</p><p>Elena blinked. "Okay, what does it feel like to you?"</p><p>"It feels weird."</p><p>She resisted the urge to groan. "Like, good weird or bad weird."</p><p>"Like <em>weird</em> weird."</p><p>This time she did groan. "Then how—"</p><p>"Hey, let's start with this," Patrick said. "Elena, where in your body do you feel it?"</p><p>She clenched her teeth. "I don't know! In my chest, in my heart, in my stomach, sometimes a little in my throat."</p><p>"Sam, where in your body do you feel weird?"</p><p>He ran his hands along his arms. "Like, in my skin."</p><p>Elena glanced at Patrick, who nodded. It was a place to start.</p><p>The brakes of the motor home hissed, and the engine stopped. "Hey, team!" Michelle called back. "We're here."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0022"><h2>22. Demons</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Elena peeked out the window. The houses on the street were bigger and more freshly painted than she had expected. All of the lawns were perfectly cut, and the whole town was quiet.</p><p>The door to the cabin swung open, and Michelle climbed up inside. "Sam, is this your old house?"</p><p>He glanced out of the window, then immediately ducked down to the floor. "Don't let them see me!"</p><p>"That's probably for the best," Michelle said. "Elena, you come with me."</p><p>She stood. "Okay. But why me?"</p><p>"We're going to go in as school teachers from last year." She picked up her reading glasses from one of the cabinets. She rarely wore them—as far as Elena could tell, she didn't really need them, except when she needed someone to take her more seriously than usual. "Well, I will. You'll be my teacher's aide."</p><p>That was believable enough. "Okay. What do I do?"</p><p>"You can mostly be silent. I'll ask the questions."</p><p>Elena clenched her teeth and followed Michelle out of the camper. She glanced over her shoulder, and Patrick waved at her.</p><p>She hung back a couple of steps as Michelle approached the front door. "It's okay, Elena," Michelle muttered under her breath. "You're just a teacher's aide. You've done nothing wrong, and you're assuming Sam is still here."</p><p>"Planck," Elena whispered.</p><p>Michelle nodded emphatically and pressed the doorbell. "Thanks for reminding me."</p><p>The door swung open, and a middle-aged woman in long skirt and wearing thick glasses stood at the door. "Who's that?"</p><p>"Hello, my name is Michelle Johnson, I'm a teacher from the elementary school. Are you Mrs. Wilson?"</p><p>"I am." She remained behind the screen door. "What is this about?"</p><p>"Well, we're here to see Planck, actually. Some of his test results were very interesting."</p><p>The woman's face turned pale white. "The demon boy."</p><p>Michelle blinked, and her eyes widened. If Elena didn't know her, she would have believed she was surprised. "Demon boy?"</p><p>The woman opened the screen door. "Come in. I'll tell you."</p><p>Elena followed Michelle into the cramped little living room. The woman told them to sit down at the kitchen table and insisted on fixing them a cup of tea before she would tell any stories. Elena thanked her for the tea, but she had no intention of drinking anything that woman prepared.</p><p>When Mrs. Wilson was settled down across from them, she placed her hands on the table. "That boy was possessed."</p><p>Michelle kept her eyes wide. "We had no idea. How did you find out?"</p><p>"Little odd things, at first. You know, misplaced items here and there. Eating odd food combinations." She shuddered and lowered her voice. "Writing with his left hand."</p><p>"Wow," Michelle said. "I can see why you were concerned."</p><p>Elena made herself nod, but she felt sick. How had this woman been approved for foster care?</p><p>"Oh, it's not just that," the woman said, sitting back in her chair. "I've seen that before. But with Planck, we saw worse terrors than we'd ever witnessed."</p><p>"Like what?" Elena asked, but she had a hard time keeping the incredulity out of her voice. They'd wasted their time coming here.</p><p>"Like my husband's light board."</p><p>Elena sat up straight. "His what?"</p><p>"My husband works for a company that makes LED's with very exact colors. And whenever Planck was around, the colors would be just slightly off."</p><p>Michelle and Elena exchanged a look. That was Sam. "Can we see the lightboard?" Michelle asked.</p><p>The woman stood. "Well, I don't know. I'd have to ask my husband, he's at work right now."</p><p>"Mrs. Wilson," Michelle asked, "is there any way you can call him? It's very important that we take a look."</p><p>"What's important? Have you seen Planck?"</p><p>Michelle raised her eyebrows. "Isn't he your foster child?"</p><p>She shook her head. "No, we sent him back a long time ago."</p><p>"How long ago?" Elena asked.</p><p>"Oh, about four weeks?"</p><p>That was how long ago Sam had said he'd run away. It would never have been Elena's inclination to believe the word of an eight-year-old over a middle-aged-woman, but this woman was clearly off her rocker. "Mrs. Wilson, what do you do to get rid of demons?"</p><p>The woman narrowed her eyebrows. "There's not much I can do. Tried to show him kindness, gave him what we could."</p><p>"Did you ever hurt him?"</p><p>"Of course not." She straightened up. "I would never."</p><p>Elena stood and slammed her hands down on the table. "Then how do you explain the burns on his knuckles?"</p><p>Flaming heat rose to her cheeks, but dissipated to numbness as the woman's eyes widened. "You've seen him. Recently."</p><p>"No, I—what I mean is—"</p><p>"You've consorted with the demon boy." The woman ran to her phone. "Get out of my house, both of you! I'll call the cops!"</p><p>"Mrs. Wilson, please." Michelle stood and tried to walk closer to her, but Mrs. Wilson held her finger over the call button on her phone and pointed to Michelle. "We're trying to help S—Planck. If there is something off about him—"</p><p>"He can't be helped!"</p><p>"But the light box—"</p><p>"Tainted! Cursed! It's catching. Away with you, all of you!" She picked up a broom and raced toward them.</p><p>Elena ran, nearly tripping as she forced her injured ankle to bear her full weight. Michelle followed close behind, and they raced for the motor home.</p><p>"He's in there, isn't he? You're harboring the demon child!" She ran after them down the driveway. Michelle darted into the cab, and Elena ran up the stairs to the cabin. The woman jumped onto the step just as the camper pulled away.</p><p>"Michelle, she's on board!" Patrick cried. "Elena, what happened?"</p><p>Sam trembled in the corner as the woman pointed a finger at him. "Planck, you get down here! I'll burn it out of you, child! I'll burn it out of you!"</p><p>"Oh, for the love of—" Elena jammed a foot into the woman's chest, and the woman tumbled out of the motor home onto the concrete. "Michelle, step on it!"</p><p>The whole camper jolted as it sped up. Elena slammed the door shut and turned to face Sam. Tears streamed down his cheeks, and Patrick had already gone over to sit beside him.</p><p>"Sam," she said softly. "We are never, ever going back there."</p><p>"Did you find out anything?"</p><p>Elena nodded. "They did experiments with light bulbs, too."</p><p>"The lady screaming about demons?"</p><p>"No. Her husband. I mean, basically, they did experiments. He built LED's."</p><p>Sam gasped. "I didn't do anything to the LED's, I swear! I didn't try to!"</p><p>"She said the colors were slightly off whenever Sam was around."</p><p>"I didn't mean to."</p><p>"Hey." Patrick nudged him. "Sounds like you were using your superpower."</p><p>"It was an accident! I didn't do it on purpose! Please don't hurt me!" Sam wrapped his arms around his knees and sobbed into his jeans.</p><p>Patrick let out his breath and put an arm around Sam. He gestured to Sam's other side with his head, and Elena went to sit on the other side, though her arm felt awkward around Sam's shoulders. "Sam, I want you to listen to me," Patrick said.</p><p>Sam responded with a sob.</p><p>"I need you to listen really good. You'll have to look at me to do that."</p><p>Sam kept his hands covering his face, but he peeked through his fingers so one of his gray eyes was visible.</p><p>"Sam," Patrick said, "we're never, <em>ever</em> going to hurt you."</p><p>Sam uncovered his face with his hands and rested his head on Patrick's shirt. Patrick kept his hand on the child's back, and Elena touseled his hair the way she had seen Patrick do.</p><p>The boy had been mostly unable to describe what the anomalies felt like. God forbid they should ever hurt. She couldn't bear the thought of breaking the promise.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0023"><h2>23. Frequency</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Elena ended up pulling the ice cream usually reserved for Friday out of the fridge and sitting Sam at the kitchen table with a bowl and a large spoon. They spent a little time putting things back together—Patrick cleaned up the living area, and Elena fed the animals that needed it, and let Savannah out of her cage so she could hop around the apartment for a little while. Sam left his seat for a couple of minutes to chase her.</p><p>"So what exactly happened back there?" Patrick said.</p><p>Elena shrugged. "Honestly, not much. The lady was crazy. She took us in to talk about Sam—well, she called him Planck—being possessed, and she talked about her husband's work on LED's."</p><p>"I guess the anomalies had a weird effect on them?"</p><p>"LED's are built to very narrow specs. They all have to be the same frequency of light."</p><p>"Frequency?"</p><p>"Color, basically. I guess Sam being around shifted the colors just a little."</p><p>Patrick nodded. "Sounds about right." He smiled as he glanced over at Sam, who was licking the bottom of the bowl. "Do we have any LED's?" Patrick asked.</p><p>"Not where I can easily get to them, but it doesn't matter. I have a—" she contemplated trying to explain how her scope detected frequency, but decided against it— "machine that detects color very precisely."</p><p>"Can't we just see shifts in color?"</p><p>Patrick sat beside Sam, looking over the little cuts in his fingers where the glass had sliced him. "Michelle!" he called to the front. "Sam needs your help."</p><p>"In theory. But I'm wondering if there's something we're not seeing with the light bulb he's already been trying to use."</p><p>"I mean, it's been getting hot."</p><p>"Exactly." Elena smiled. "I'm wondering if it's putting out infrared."</p><p>"Remind me what's infrared again?"</p><p>Sam plodded over from the table, chocolate smears covering most of his face. "It's that thing where your camera can see heat instead of light," Sam said.</p><p>Elena nodded. "That's one way to explain it. But light has lots of frequencies. There are only a few colors we can see."</p><p>Sam's eyes widened. "There are colors we can't see?"</p><p>She wasn't sure if she would call the invisible frequencies <em>colors</em>, but it was close enough. "Yeah. Lots of them."</p><p>"That's so cool!"</p><p>"Sam, can we try one more time with the light bulb? I want to measure something."</p><p>He crossed his arms and stuck out his lower lip. "I'm bad at the light bulb."</p><p>"I think you might be making the light bulb work, actually. Just in one of the colors we can't see."</p><p>He dropped his arms and let his breath out. "Okay."</p><p>It took a few minutes to clear the table, wash the dishes, and pull back out the materials and scope. Elena sat across from Sam with the sensor and data acquisition device. "Okay, Sam. Go ahead and light up the bulb."</p><p>He put the wires in place. Again, as far as they could tell, the bulb didn't light; but the sensor disagreed. Elena grinned as the frequency range appeared on the screen instantly. The frequencies were on the order of hundreds of trillions of Hertz.</p><p>She squeezed her eyes shut and ran a few calculations in her head. <em>Three hundred million divided by a hundred trillion . . . hundred billionths?</em> She stared at the screen. It couldn't be right.</p><p>Sam tapped on her arm. "So? Did I make invisible light?"</p><p>"I . . ." She ran the numbers in her head again, then pulled out her calculator. But no matter what she did, she kept getting the same numbers.</p><p>"So?" Sam scooted forward in his chair. "Am I making invisible light?"</p><p>He was creating <em>visible</em> light, not invisible. The frequencies should have been right for the human eye. She lowered the device and looked at Sam.</p><p>"No, you're not making infrared."</p><p>He deflated.</p><p>"It looks like you're making <em>visible</em> light. We just can't see it."</p><p>"So . . . <em>invisible</em>."</p><p>"Um." She bit her lip and shook her head. "Yeah. Invisible visible light."</p><p>Sam stared at her with a confused expression.</p><p>"Hey!" Patrick sat down in the chair next to him, holding up a hand for a high five. "Invisible visible light! That's way cooler than regular invisible light, right, Elena?"</p><p>"I mean, yeah, I guess." It definitely left her with a lot more questions, whereas a simple shift to infrared might have answered some.</p><p>"Yeah! Cool!" Sam held up both hands, high fiving Patrick with one—Patrick jerked his hand away, shaking it—and holding out the other to Elena. "Invisible visible light! Can we do another experiment?"</p><p>Elena ignored his hand. "No, we need to try this one again."</p><p>Sam dropped both arms. "Why? I did a really cool superpower!"</p><p>"Because we're not trying to get you to use your powers. We're trying to get you to control them."</p><p>He wrinkled his nose. "But it's cool."</p><p>"But you saw how Mrs. Wilson was. She was scared."</p><p>"She was crazy!"</p><p>"Being scared can make people crazy. I'm not saying she was right, I'm saying what Patrick was saying earlier. Every superhero needs to be able to control their powers, to protect themselves."</p><p>Sam sighed and sat back down in the chair. "Okay. What do I need to do?"</p><p>"You know that feeling you get in your skin when your power is being used?"</p><p>"Yeah."</p><p>"Well, you need to use that feeling. See if you can change it."</p><p>"How?"</p><p>"Just try, first. Then tell us how you feel."</p><p>He groaned. "This is a lot of talking about feelings."</p><p>Elena turned her back to roll her eyes, picked up the battery she'd left on the counter, and turned back to hand it to him. "Okay, put the pieces together again."</p><p>He did. "It's kind of warm."</p><p>"It's okay. Feel that weirdness again?"</p><p>"Yeah, I guess."</p><p>"Okay, see if you can use it. Pull it inwards or push it outwards or something."</p><p>His brow furrowed, then he scrunched up his face.</p><p>The lights in the cabin dimmed while the light bulb in his hand shone, less brightly than it had with Elena, but still visible. "Whoa."</p><p>"Wow, cool! That was pushing it out. I can pull it out, too. Watch!"</p><p>"Wait, Sam—"</p><p>The light bulb burst in his hand, and little shards of glass flew across the room.</p><p>"<em>Ow!</em>" He dropped the metal and jumped up, holding his hand. "It got glass in me!"</p><p>He could do it. He could control the anomalies, at least a little. Elena felt numb with astonishment as she realized that some part of her hadn't believed he would be able to do it at all.</p><p>He couldn't control whether or not they happened. Light always behaved oddly around Sam, and there was nothing he could do about that. She'd wondered at what area around him the anomalies took effect, but it looked like that was exactly what he could control. He could make the anomalies cover a wide area with limited effects, or he could make them cover a tiny area with extreme intensity.</p><p>Maybe the sum total of his power was constant, or maybe it changed with time. If she could take a measurement of the energy shift in his anomalies, and multiply it by the area it covered, she could calculate a sum total of sorts. She could measure the extent of his power, and how it changed with time, and take notes on what caused it to shift. She could figure out exactly how much of a danger Sam could be.</p><p>Exactly how much of an asset he could be to Tech United.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0024"><h2>24. Control</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Michelle sat at the table with Sam and her first aid kit. Patrick and Elena waited for them on the couch. For the time being, the camper sat at a rest stop. They'd gotten lucky not to be spotted thus far, but Elena was always nervous about staying still for too long a period of time.</p><p>"So," Patrick said. "Looks like Sam's got his powers pretty well under control. He just has to push that feeling out instead of in."</p><p>She nodded. "We're making headway. I'm looking forward to taking some more measurements, running some more calculations."</p><p>Patrick grimaced. "Why?"</p><p>"Because we still don't understand the anomalies."</p><p>"He changes the colors of things a little. Sometimes makes light kind of invisible." He shrugged. "It's kind of cool, but I think if Tech United found out, they'd be disappointed."</p><p>"No, I don't think so. Don't you see?" She shifted her position on the couch to face him. "This is new. It's something we've never seen before."</p><p>"Okay. So is everyone."</p><p>"Not like this!" She stood and began to pace. "The frequency of light matters. Some frequencies of light transmit radio, some of them are in microwaves, some of them give you sunburns, some of them give you cancer."</p><p>"I see."</p><p>"So if Sam is changing the type of light, that could be seriously dangerous. We can't just—"</p><p>"Hey." Patrick held up his hands. "I'm just saying, the only time I saw anything dangerous happen was at that table, just now."</p><p>"But that's how powerful he is. Naturally powerful. He could hurt someone with those kinds of abilities."</p><p>"He just did. He hurt himself."</p><p>"Exactly. Can you imagine what could happen if he went on unable to control himself?"</p><p>"I can imagine what happens when he tries to control himself."</p><p>Elena crossed her arms. "We'll try it your way, then. Tell him to just release control of his powers, forget everything we taught him. See what happens then."</p><p>Patrick held up his hands. "I'm just saying, he was doing fine before."</p><p>"But he <em>wasn't</em>, Patrick! Sure, the ability itself had never caused any light bulbs to blow up, but it got people to notice him. People who were afraid of him, and people who wanted to use the anomalies for something—I know, we still don't know what, but they scared him enough to make him jump out of a third-story window."</p><p>"His powers didn't cause any of that, those people were crazy!"</p><p>"People <em>are</em> crazy! That's the problem. No, none of those things were his fault, but none of those things would have happened if he could control the anomalies."</p><p>"Fine!" Patrick took a step closer. "Maybe you're right. That's not the problem I'm having with this whole thing."</p><p>"What whole thing?"</p><p>"You. You trying to control Sam's powers."</p><p>"I'm trying to get him to control his own powers!"</p><p>Patrick rolled his eyes. "But that's not why you want to do it. You're scared, just like that lady. She burned Sam to try to chase away the demons. But it's the same thing, you're putting him at risk to control him."</p><p>"I am <em>not!</em>"</p><p>"The ability itself has never hurt him. Or anyone else. It just makes people go crazy when they see it."</p><p>"It's chaotic, Patrick."</p><p>"I know." He turned away from her. "You can't stand chaos. It's the scariest thing in the world."</p><p>Elena breathed in to retort, but her breath caught in her throat.</p><p>How could he not understand? It wasn't about the anomalies themselves. It was all about who found them. They had a responsibility to him, to themselves, to everyone else, to make sure the abilities were contained. And that required knowing what the anomalies were. How they worked. How to stop them.</p><p>"Elena," he said, "if there was a way to ensure Sam would be safe without learning anything more about them, would you do it?"</p><p>She whirled to face him. "It doesn't matter!"</p><p>"What doesn't?"</p><p>"It doesn't matter why I'm trying to do this. It still has to be done. He needs to be able to control himself. Whether the anomalies are dangerous themselves, or it's just people's reactions." She shook her head. "At the end of the day, they're still dangerous."</p><p>The look Patrick shot back at her was venemous. "You have to get your way, don't you? No matter how you spin it, you always get your way."</p><p>Elena had never had to work so hard not to punch someone.</p><p>Michelle emerged from her room. "Okay, you two. Break it up."</p><p>Patrick glared at her, then he walked away.</p><p>"Elena." Michelle turned on her, fire in her eyes. "Sam's a human. Not a science experiment."</p><p>"I know—"</p><p>"Do you?"</p><p>The words stabbed her in the chest. "I—I'm sorry, Michelle."</p><p>Michelle whirled on Patrick. "Patrick, Elena and Sam are trying to do something no one's ever done before. It might be impossible. When Sam gets frustrated, you've been encouraging him. When Elena gets frustrated, you've been insulting her. That stops right now."</p><p>Patrick's cheeks turned red. "Yes, ma'am," he muttered.</p><p>She took a step back to face them both. "And both of you. I don't know what's up with you, but you haven't stopped bickering since we started this year of camp. Sam's behaved better than either of you on this ride, and he's eight years old. Knock it off."</p><p>Both Elena and Patrick were silent. Elena couldn't bring herself to lift her eyes from the floor.</p><p>Michelle breathed in for a second wind. "Now, you're very different from each other, I get it, but that means you're good at different things. Neither of you is <em>better</em>. I needed both of you for Camp Universe, and Sam needs both of you now."</p><p>Elena winced. "I'm sorry, I—"</p><p>"No. Both of you get in there and apologize to Sam. He's the one who's worried about you."</p><p>Elena forced herself to look at Patrick, whose face looked about as miserable as she felt. She'd seen other people face Michelle's anger, but she'd never had to experience it herself. She'd imagined it would hurt, but nothing like this.</p><p>They opened the door to Michelle's room. Sam huddled on a chair in the corner. Elena was the first to kneel down in front of him.</p><p>"Hey, Sam." Her hand hovered for a fraction of a second too long over his shoulder before coming to rest. A little electric shock made her pull her hand away. "I'm sorry I haven't been the nicest to you. I'm going to let you make more of your own choices, okay?"</p><p>"Yeah," Patrick said. "I'm sorry, too. Sorry we were fighting and scaring you."</p><p>Sam shrugged and let go of his knees. "It's okay. Boyfriends and girlfriends fight sometimes."</p><p>Elena stood. They'd pretended to be together when they were passing by the school, but Sam wasn't there. "How did you know—"</p><p>"Ha!" He giggled and bounced in his chair. "So it <em>is</em> true!"</p><p>"No." Patrick stepped back from Elena. "Never."</p><p>Sam laughed and sat cross legged. "Patrick and Elena sitting in a tree!"</p><p>Elena groaned and left the room.</p><p>Michelle sat at the kitchen table with a mug of coffee. She was laughing.</p><p>"Thanks a lot." Elena leaned against the counter. Patrick hung back, keeping distance from Elena.</p><p>Michelle shrugged. "You know what, we're all getting cooped up in here. Let's go find a remote little park and spend some time outside."</p><p>Elena nodded, and Michelle returned to the driver's cab.</p><p>Patrick sat next to Sam and offered him a game on his phone, then returned to the kitchen. "Yeah," he whispered. "We definitely need to get outside. We all need a break from . . . all of this."</p><p>Elena nodded, but she couldn't help it: she was already thinking of tests they could do for the anomalies out in the park.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0025"><h2>25. Color</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a nice park, if you could call it that. Michelle had driven them back into the unpaved forest, sticking to the paths as much as possible. Very little sunlight penetrated the dark green foilage above.</p><p>As soon as he was out, Sam ran. He scooped up handfuls of fallen leaves and threw them into the air.</p><p>"You'd think the paths would be clearer." Patrick knelt down to pick up a couple of leaves himself.</p><p>Elena took a leaf from him. "What do you mean?"</p><p>"It's summer."</p><p>"So?"</p><p>He shrugged. "I'm from the east coast. They actually have seasons. The leaves fall in . . . you know. Fall."</p><p>Elena tried to remember whether he'd ever mentioned where he was from. She wasn't sure whether she had ever asked.</p><p>Michelle leaned against the side of the camper, watching Sam run around in the leaves. Elena went to stand beside her while Patrick ran to join Sam. "So where are we going next?"</p><p>Michelle turned to face her. "Sorry, didn't catch that."</p><p>"You keep talking about how we need to have an end goal in mind, how we can't just be running forever. So where are we going?"</p><p>Michelle nodded slowly. "Right now, I'm just putting as much distance between ourselves and that facility as I possibly can. When he calms down a little, I'm going to talk to him about his past homes."</p><p>Elena sucked in her breath through her teeth. "That's not going to be a fun conversation."</p><p>"Neither will yours."</p><p>"Mine?"</p><p>Michelle raised her eyebrows. "You need to get him to continue his efforts to control his powers, Elena."</p><p>Elena winced. "Patrick said—"</p><p>"And he's right, about everything. But so are you." She shover her hands into her pockets. "There's no other way. We're only going to his past homes to try to get clues about what's going on with him."</p><p>"I thought I had it for a minute there."</p><p>"Oh?"</p><p>Elena traced the dirt with her toe. "As far as I could tell, Sam was putting out infrared. So I measured the frequency of the electromagnetic radiation coming from the bulb, and it was visible."</p><p>"Wait, there was <em>visible</em> light coming from the bulb?"</p><p>"Yes!" Elena threw her hands up. "I have no idea how. According to the detector, the bulb was working perfectly. We just couldn't see the light."</p><p>Michelle blinked a few times. "Okay. What made the light bulb shatter?"</p><p>"I'm not completely sure about that part. I'm guessing the anomalies generate a certain amount of energy. But he is starting to learn to control the powers."</p><p>"Not very well, I take it."</p><p>"No, I mean . . ." Elena bit her lip. How could she describe what she didn't understand well herself? "I think he can sort of 'push out,' and there will be anomalies over a wide space. Or he can 'pull in,' and the anomalies are just in a tiny area, but they're really intense."</p><p>Michelle turned her eyes back toward Sam, squinting a little. "I would think there should be anomalies all of the time, not just when he's trying to light a light bulb."</p><p>Elena's eyes widened. She had never seen it before, but she'd never been checking for differences in the absolutely ordinary.</p><p>"What do you think? Anything weird?"</p><p>She watched for the patterns in the way the leaves fell, but remembered that she couldn't be just looking for differences in any aspect of science. "Hard to say what to look for, exactly."</p><p>"Things turning invisible."</p><p>Elena shook her head. "No, I haven't seen anything like that at all."</p><p>"Differences in light frequencies?"</p><p>"Maybe. But the scope didn't seem to think so."</p><p>Michelle squinted at Sam as well. "His anomalies had to do with light and color, right?"</p><p>Elena leaned against the trailer and watched Sam for awhile. It was hard to tell, because he was playing tag with Patrick and running fast, but if she was really looking for it—at some distance away from Sam, things looked like maybe, <em>maybe</em> they were slightly off.</p><p>Patrick caught up to Sam and picked him up, and his shirt turned a slightly brighter color.</p><p>
  <em>Slightly.</em>
</p><p>Gasping, Elena stood up straight. "Did you see that?"</p><p>"See what?" Michelle asked.</p><p>Elena cleared her throat. "Hey, Sam!"</p><p>He came running over to her. "You should come play with us!"</p><p>She took a step back as he came near. She couldn't help it. "Hey, can you do that thing with your powers where you push out?"</p><p>Sam's nose wrinkled. "I don't know. It was bad last time."</p><p>"Maybe it's only bad if you have a piece of glass in your hands. I don't know. Can you just try for me?"</p><p>He shook his head. "I don't want to use my powers anymore. Because I don't know how to use them for good, and I might use them for evil."</p><p>Elena took a breath and glanced at Michelle, who smiled at Sam. "But Sam," Michelle said, "you can't just completely give up. Superheroes don't do that, either."</p><p>"Some do," he mumbled.</p><p>"But not you."</p><p>"Yes me. I already did." He fidgeted with the bandaids on his fingers.</p><p>Patrick came over to stand beside Michelle. "Sam, it's your choice. But you can do amazing things. Don't you want to do amazing things?"</p><p>"No."</p><p>Patrick blinked and nodded. "Okay—um, well—"</p><p>"Sam." Elena knelt down in front of him. "You know how sometimes, there are just things you need to do?"</p><p>"Like what?"</p><p>"Like leaving camp. Like jumping out of a high window when someone's trying to hurt you. Like . . . like going back to your old foster home."</p><p>"I hate those things."</p><p>"Exactly. But we had to do them."</p><p>Sam pursed his lips and crossed his arms.</p><p>Elena bit her lip. She wasn't sure how honest to be with him, but nothing else they were saying was doing any good. "Sam, I'm not brave. I couldn't have jumped out of that window, and I couldn't have—" her voice broke— "I couldn't have gone home and faced my old parents. But you're brave. And there are people who need you to use your powers."</p><p>"Who?"</p><p>"Us."</p><p>His arms remained crossed, but his eyes widened a little.</p><p>She swallowed and stood. "Sam, we've never seen powers like yours. We don't know what they are, and we don't know what's happening with them. But you know what we just saw? We saw Patrick's shirt change color when you got close."</p><p>Sam lowered his arms, his brow furrowed. He stared off into space.</p><p>"Sam, do you understand?"</p><p>Finally, he let out a laugh. "You're joking me."</p><p>"No. We really did see Patrick's shirt change color."</p><p>"That's not a power! Everyone can do that!"</p><p>"Everyone—" Elena's voice caught in her throat. He was young enough, and he had been passed from home to home enough. Maybe it had just never occurred to him that the ability he'd always had could be unique. "Sam, have you ever seen anyone else change colors of objects around them?"</p><p>He nodded. "My science teacher in first grade did this trick with these cups of water, where she poured water together and it turned red."</p><p>Elena's eyes fell closed. She'd done the same demonstration herself. It involved using acids and a color-changing indicator. "Okay, anyone else?"</p><p>"My friend in kindergarten made his toys glow in the dark."</p><p>"Yeah, but—" She laughed without smiling. "How about this week?"</p><p>"Yes. Miss Michelle made those beads change colors."</p><p>Elena buried her face in her hands. He had every reason to believe his powers were commonplace. "Well, when you change the colors of things, do you do it on purpose? Or does it just happen?"</p><p>He shrugged. "Both. It's like breathing. I can breathe on purpose, but if I don't think about it, I still do it anyway on accident."</p><p>"So, when you do think about it . . ." Elena glanced around the forest. "Can you make that tree turn a different color?"</p><p>He turned to point at a tree about ten feet away from himself. "That one?"</p><p>She nodded.</p><p>He squinted. The leaves turned a bit yellower, the trunk turned a little darker, but so did everything within a ten foot radius.</p><p>"Oh." He giggled. "I guess that is kind of the same feeling as pulling in my powers a little. But you didn't say I was supposed to be doing color changes!"</p><p>Elena's knees felt very weak. "Sam . . . no one else can do that. You have a very special gift."</p><p>She couldn't bring herself to say any more. These weren't just anomalies. This was so much more than that.</p><p>On the surface, there was nothing dangerous about being able to change the color of an object. And most of what she had seen recently appeared to be lowering the frequency of the the light, not raising it. Then again, the monochromatic room had been the opposite. And if he could raise the frequency . . .</p><p>After visible light came ultraviolet, which was bad for skin but not terribly dangerous. After ultraviolet came X-rays, which were a little more dangerous. After X-rays came gamma rays. Those were what most people thought of as nuclear radiation. In low doses, they rose a person's chances of getting cancer. In high doses, they could kill.</p><p>"Well, okay!" Sam grinned. "Don't worry, Miss Elena. I won't ever use my powers for evil. Only for good." He reached for her hand, but a small shock made him pull his hand back.</p><p>Elena couldn't smile back.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0026"><h2>26. Shock</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sam and Patrick ate lunch at the table, talking and laughing, while Elena sat with Michelle on the couch.</p><p>"I'm nervous about this," Elena said.</p><p>"He can change the colors of things," Michelle said. "Or, the colors we see."</p><p>Elena shook her head. "I don't think it's any kind of mind control. He seems to be focusing on the objects, not on us."</p><p>Michelle shrugged. "Okay. Still, I don't see anything dangerous in it. Or anything that Tech United would be interested in."</p><p>"But I don't understand it," Elena said</p><p>Michelle's eyes pierced hers. "And you may never. This might be enough to clear your name and show people you're not crazy. This nightmare could be over."</p><p>"It could be just beginning."</p><p>"How?"</p><p>Elena let her breath out. "What if he pushes colors up into the gamma range?"</p><p>Michelle's eyes widened.</p><p>A soft whimpering. Winter was sniffling at her feet. Elena picked her up and held her on her lap. "You can see why I'm still concerned."</p><p>"Yes, but no. He can control his powers."</p><p>"But he can't. He can control the area over which the effects take place. But the less area he spreads it over, the more intense the effects."</p><p>Michelle shifted her weight slightly. "You're saying the total amount of . . . power, or energy, or—"</p><p>"I think it would be called a flux."</p><p>"The total flux is constant."</p><p>Elena breathed in to say yes, but she hadn't run any tests. "I don't know. I'd like to do some calculations and find out."</p><p>Michelle stood to take her empty plate to the sink. "Do what you need to do."</p><hr/><p>Michelle went back to driving the camper, but not before Elena dug through their stores under the cabin for a few supplies. A measuring tape, her energy measuring device, her graphing calculator, her sodium-neon lamp, and a good notepad.</p><p>It took very little coaxing to get Sam to agree to help out. Now that they could put a name on his anomalies, it wasn't such a difficult thing to talk about. He sat at the kitchen table, and she held the sodium neon lamp at varying distances from him and asked him to shift the color of the light—but nothing further from him than the light.</p><p>It sometimes took him a little time to get the anomalies to a precise location. Each time he did, the light shifted in color, just a bit—a little more orange, or a little more green than its usual yellow.</p><p>She was hesitant to place the sodium neon light directly in front of him. Even if she could effectively shield him from any broken glass, this lamp was a lot more expensive than the little light bulbs they'd been working with earlier. So she went for larger distances instead. She held the lamp out beside the chameleon cage. "Right here?"</p><p>Sam squinted, and the light turned green. A bright green. Her chameleon, usually green when it wasn't in a mood, turned bright blue.</p><p>It also screeched, as if in pain.</p><p>Her hand that held the lamp stung, like she'd been sunburned. "Sam, stop!"</p><p>"Sorry, sorry!" He squinted again, but the lamp still looked a little too green, the chameleon a little too blue. Her skin still felt a little too warm, and the rest of the room felt a little too cool.</p><p>"Sam, you didn't stop."</p><p>"I did! I mean, I relaxed it. I'm not doing anything anymore."</p><p>Elena looked over at Patrick, who shrugged. She peeked out the window at the trees outside. Had the leaves on the trees always been that color? If there was any shift at all, the difference wasn't extreme. If she hadn't been looking for a difference, could she possibly have noticed anything was different?</p><p>She looked at the data on her device. There was a small spike on the reading from a few seconds prior. She could use that for her calculations.</p><p>Sam pulled his knees into his chest. "Can I be done now?"</p><p>Elena nodded. "I'm going to do some calculations. You want to play a game with Patrick on the couch?"</p><p>"You did good, man." Patrick came over and put a hand on his shoulder, but yanked it back. "Crazy static in here, I swear."</p><p>"That happens to me a lot," Sam said, sighing.</p><hr/><p>Elena sat at the kitchen table for a while afterward, first trying to figure out the best way to run her calculations. She used the total volume of space affected by the anomalies, and multiplied by the energy taken in by her sensor. That gave her a value for the flux.</p><p>The number she came up with for the first data point didn't mean much to her. It couldn't. There was nothing else she could compare it to her to give her a point of reference.</p><p>The presence of the energy probably explained why Sam had a lot of problems with static electricity, though. The difference in the energy present in the light all around him might interact with the surroundings in a weird way, and she could imagine it stripping electrons from his atoms, or from those of the atoms around him. That was why they all kept getting shocked.</p><p>She kept calculating for each number. The second was slightly higher than the first, but close enough to be random experimental error: less than one percent. She couldn't expect to get the exact same number for every trial. One percent error was excellent, much better than she had been anticipating.</p><p>But the third number was higher than the second, another two percent, and the fourth was higher than the third by a half a percent, and the fifth was higher than the fourth by a full eight percent.</p><p>It could have been her imagination, but she could have sworn that the whole time she sat doing calculations, the camper was growing brighter and colder.</p><p>Based on Elena's calculations, the further away from Sam she took her detector, the greater the flux was. It didn't sound right to her. He'd managed to burst a bulb by "pulling in," as he called it, and that would take more energy than her numbers were allowing for, if she followed the trend. It looked like "pulling in" would more or less cause the powers to disappear altogether.</p><p>Patrick came over to glance over her shoulder. "That's a lot of numbers."</p><p>Elena shrugged. She was used to being made fun of for being the person who loved math.</p><p>But he didn't tease. "How's it going?"</p><p>"Mm."</p><p>"Sounds serious."</p><p>Elena laughed a little, but she went back to her solemn expression directly after. "It's weird. I don't believe these numbers."</p><p>"Too much power? Too little?"</p><p>"Neither. I don't have a point of reference for how much energy I should be expecting."</p><p>"Enough to do this, I guess." Patrick held up his hand. A small red mark glowed on his finger.</p><p>Elena sucked in her breath through her teeth. "What did he do?"</p><p>"That was when I touched his shoulder. Do you think the shocks are from his ability? Because I got one from him earlier and it was okay, but this one <em>hurt</em>."</p><p>Elena wove her fingers into her hair and closed her eyes. She could look up ionization energies. Given the typical Voltage for an electric shock, and the dielectric breakdown strength of air . . .</p><p>She grinned. "This is awesome." She looked back at the mark on his hand. "I mean, sorry, Patrick. That looks really painful, and we'll have to be careful. But this is exactly what I needed."</p><p>Patrick held up his thumbs. "Glad to hear I could actually help with the math."</p><p>It wouldn't be enough information, of course. Her data seemed to suggest that Sam's abilities were building up the more he changed their radius. Maybe that made sense. He could be buidling up static charge, which could . . .</p><p><em>Which could what, exactly? </em>Somehow, he was changing the energy present in light without changing its frequency. Because if her crazy quantum professor last semester had known what he was talking about, that was the real reason people saw colors: because of the differences in energy for each color of light. But there was no way to change that without altering reality itself.</p><p>So that's what Sam was doing. She had known that. It didn't come to her as any additional surprise. Somehow, she had lost the ability to be surprised.</p><p>She set aside her data. There was nothing she could do with it. She'd have to take a data point, then wait a few hours before taking another so that any residual effects could dissipate.</p><p>She glanced over at Sam and Patrick on the couch, laughing over their game. There didn't seem to be any residual effects changing anything at the moment, though the colors in the cabin did still seem a little off.</p><p>Elena walked up to the window between themselves and the cab. "Hey, Michelle. Where are we going?"</p><p>Michelle's eyes met hers through the rear view windows for just a moment. "Still just putting distance between ourselves and the camp. When we get far enough away, I'm going to stop at a grocery store. We're going to run out of supplies pretty soon if I don't."</p><p>Elena nodded. "Do we know where we're headed next?"</p><p>"I'm going to see if Patrick will ask Sam about the home he lived in before the Wilson's, but I'm not sure how helpful it's going to be. We're already getting some good information about his abilities." Michelle raised her eyebrows. "You get the flux?"</p><p>"Kind of." Elena sighed. "It looks like it changes when he moves around the effects too much."</p><p>"That could be an interesting thing to measure."</p><p>"It could be dangerous. The energy seems to be causing a lot of static. Patrick got a shock when he touched Sam's shoulder, it burned his finger."</p><p>Michelle let out her breath. "Well, maybe we should let it rest for a bit, then. There's not much we can do about it at the moment. I'm going to pull us into a rest stop for the night soon enough. Why don't you take a break?"</p><p>Elena breathed in to protest, but it wasn't worth it. Michelle was right. She'd done enough for one day. Sam would be tired of pushing the anomalies from one distance to another and holding tight reign over them. She turned from the cab and went over to the couch, where Sam and Patrick were still playing their game.</p><p>"Deal me into the next round?" she asked, and they both cheered.</p><p>They dealt out the cards. Elena tried to focus on the game, but no matter what she did, she couldn't shake the feeling that the diamonds and hearts looked just a little bit too orange.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0027"><h2>27. Exponential</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Elena didn't bring up the anomalies for the rest of the night, and even when Michelle came to join them in the cabin, no one brought up the question of where they were going next. In some ways, it felt impossible to Elena that they had already spent two full days in the camper, on the run but without running Camp Universe.</p><p>At the same time, it felt like she had never lived anywhere else, like she had been on the run for her entire life and would be for the rest of her life. Like she was used to the adrenaline, the constant unknown, the fact that Tech United could catch them at any moment, like any moment could be her last moment of freedom.</p><p>Knowing that made it both easier and harder not to return to the problem of Sam's anomaly flux. If she were to be captured that evening, she didn't want to have spent her last free moments working.</p><p>Yet that was exactly what she wanted. Because if she were captured right now, she would never know the answer.</p><p>The ultimate deciding factor was that Michelle was right. At the moment, there was nothing she could do.</p><p>She awoke the next morning to a small cry. She threw off her blankets and only deployed the ladder halfway before scrambling down into the cabin.</p><p>"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!" Sam knelt in front of the animal cages, hands over his face, rocking.</p><p>"Sam, what happened?" Elena placed a hand on his shoulder. "<em>Ow!</em>" She shook out her hand. The shock was worse than the one Patrick had given her with the Van de Graaff generator the week before, and that had been over a hundred thousand Volts.</p><p>Patrick pulled himself out of his sleeping bag from where he had been sleeping in the kitchen. "Hey Sam, you okay?"</p><p>"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I didn't know, I'm sorry!"</p><p>"Oh, we won't be mad at you! What did you do?"</p><p>Trembling, Sam raised one finger to point at the chameleon cage.</p><p>Elena felt her blood run cold. Numb, she forced herself to turn to look into Seamus's cage.</p><p>There the chameleon lay, white, unbreathing, on the floor of his cage.</p><p>Elena gasped, and her eyes stung. She opened the unlatched door of his cage and reached in for Seamus's body, but she could bring herself to pick it up.</p><p>"I'm sorry!" Sam cried.</p><p>She whirled on him. "What did you <em>do?</em>"</p><p>"I woke up a little earlier than all of you and I wanted to practice using my powers and I just—I think I pulled in, a little too much, because my powers were spread out too far, and—"</p><p>"You channelled all your power into him?"</p><p>"Not on purpose! I thought it wouldn't hurt him anyway, because chameleons can already change color, so he would have powers like mine!" Sam scooted backwards, covering his face and head. "I'm sorry!"</p><p>Elena's hand shook, still hovering over Seamus's body. She didn't trust herself to speak.</p><p>Patrick's gentle voice took over. "Come here, Sam." He placed an arm around Sam's shoulders, though he jerked back at first as a small <em>snap!</em> sounded. "I know, you didn't do anything on purpose."</p><p>"Elena's mad at me."</p><p>"Elena's sad. She loves these animals, you know that?"</p><p>"They're her pets?"</p><p>"They belong to the camp, but she loves them like they're hers. She takes care of them every day."</p><p>Hot tears streamed down Elena's face, and she turned her back on Patrick and Sam. She knew it should be a small loss. No person had gotten hurt. And Winter was still fine. But Seamus was always a favorite with the campers. She had to take special care of him, because he didn't like to be touched by the campers.</p><p>Sam hadn't had to touch him.</p><p>"Hey." A strong arm gripped Elena around the shoulders. Michelle. Elena turned to face her, but there was nothing she could say. Her eyes said everything.</p><p>Elena turned and melted into Michelle's arms. "I don't know how to do this."</p><p>"You're doing great."</p><p>"I mean, help Sam control his powers. He can't change the flux. And I can't train him."</p><p>"That's because you're trying to do something impossible." Michelle let go of her and held her shoulders at arm's length. "But you're making it happen."</p><p>Elena wiped her tears away and swallowed against the tightness in her throat. "Sam, are <em>you</em> okay?" she forced herself to ask.</p><p>He wiped his tears away as well. "I'm really sad."</p><p>"Me too." She took a deep breath and stepped closer to him. "But this is why we have to keep working on your powers."</p><p>He shook his head. "I can't control them, I can't do it—"</p><p>"It's okay." She knelt down to his level. "I'm not going to have you try to control the powers today. I'm just going to measure them."</p><p>He sniffed. "Measure how?"</p><p>"Just like yesterday. You can pull them in to wherever you want—maybe we go outside, so we're not putting the animals—" She stopped that sentence before it got away from her. "We'll go outside and take some measurements, okay?"</p><p>"Elena," he said, his eyes very wide, "what if I hurt <em>you?</em>"</p><p>She let her eyes fall closed. Whatever he was doing was dangerous. It was enough to kill a small animal, which would be more than enough to injure a larger one. She was surprised she hadn't felt anything that morning.</p><p>Or maybe that had been what had woken her up. Maybe his cry had just prompted her to get out of bed.</p><p>They stepped out of the camper, and Elena brought her equipment for taking measurements. Michelle and Patrick remained behind to take care of Seamus's body. Elena checked in on each one before she went, but couldn't bear to look again at the chameleon's lifeless form.</p><p>Sam's control was more erratic today than it had been the day before, and it was harder to get a consistent energy reading. The air felt too cool and her skin felt too warm, and this time, the leaves appeared too blue throughout her tests, even when he relaxed. Again, she couldn't imagine that anyone who wasn't looking for a difference could tell that the colors were off, but it was easier for her to detect them this time. And when he really pulled in his powers to a small area, the difference was big enough that anyone could see it.</p><p>It occurred to her that if he kept going the way he had been, her devices wouldn't work anymore.</p><p>Back in the cabin, Elena spent some time at the kitchen table with her notebook and a calculator. The numbers didn't make any sense. For one thing, they'd tested a few distances today, but not in any particular order. The day before, she'd started taking readings standing close to Sam, and gradually gotten further away. Today, she'd picked random points.</p><p>The day before, the flux had gotten bigger as she got further away, which meant it was also increasing with time. Today, it continued to increase with time, as if the distance didn't matter.</p><p>Elena tried plotting the flux against distance. There was no obvious relationship. It seemed like the flux took on different values at different times, and it didn't matter where Sam situated the energy.</p><p>Then she plotted the flux against time. The data acquisition device had stored the data from the day before, as well as time stamps for each one.</p><p>Her heart stopped when she saw the data. She stood.</p><p>"Michelle . . . can you come take a look at this?"</p><p>Patrick had taken a turn with driving, so Michelle was sitting and playing a game with Sam. She took out her phone and handed it to him, then lead Elena into her room.</p><p>"Did you find something?" she asked as soon as the door was closed.</p><p>Elena forced herself to pace her breathing. "The anomalies are getting stronger."</p><p>"As you get further away or closer?"</p><p>Elena shook her head. "No, I mean as time passes. The flux is bigger today than it was yesterday. It was bigger an hour ago than it was two hours ago."</p><p>The color drained from Michelle's face.</p><p>"Today, he killed Seamus. What's he going to be able to do tomorrow?"</p><p>"Can you extrapolate?"</p><p>Elena winced. "I can try." She pulled up her laptop, entered the data, and tried to perform a curve fit. As far as she could tell, the points curved upwards, the flux not only increasing, but increasing faster and faster as time passed. She clicked through a few different fits before she found a good match.</p><p><em>Exponential. </em>It was exactly what she had hoped it wouldn't be. The greater Sam's flux became, the faster it grew.</p><p>That also explained why it had been relatively tame for so long. An exponential growth could remain small for a long time, increasing little by little, before exploding. The worst part was that there didn't even need to be a cause for the sharp increase. Mathematically, it was inevitable.</p><p>"Elena, talk to me."</p><p>"It's an exponential growth curve," Elena said.</p><p>"Refresh me."</p><p>"The anomalies are going to get worse and worse."</p><p>"Okay." Michelle let out her breath. "Then train him to push out all the time."</p><p>"It's not as simple as that. He's not pushing to an infinite distance, or else there'd be no effects at all."</p><p>"Then figure out how far he can push."</p><p>Pulled to the side of the road, Elena asked Sam to push out as hard and as far as he could without having to put in a lot of effort. That was the important part. It couldn't be a strain for him, or he wouldn't be able to maintain it.</p><p>It wasn't easy, but with her sodium neon lamp and energy measurement device, Elena finally managed to get a distance. It was a little under a hundred feet.</p><p>Back in the cabin, she ran the numbers given the flux and reported back to Michelle in the back room, out of Sam's earshot. "It should be okay, at his current level of flux. Not even enough energy to cause any static."</p><p>"Okay. At what point will the increase be a problem?"</p><p>Elena bit her lip and entered the numbers into her laptop, assuming Sam could keep his power as spread as possible. She ran a calculation for how much energy it would take to hurt them, then plugged the numbers into her curve fit to find how long it would take for Sam's flux to become strong enough to kill them.</p><p>She gasped and stepped back from the laptop.</p><p>"What?" Michelle placed a hand on her shoulder.</p><p>"A week," she said. "If we stay with Sam, the energy will be deadly in a week. And it will kill everyone in a hundred foot radius, including himself."</p><p>Michelle's jaw dropped, and she turned away. Michelle laughed without smiling. "Okay, what if we had him do the opposite? Pull his powers all the way in, tight enough that they don't touch anyone else at all?"</p><p>"Based on this model . . ." Elena shook her head. "If he did that right now, he would die."</p><p>Michelle shook her head. "Okay. Then let's run another calculation. Let's say we work with Sam a little more. Let's say we increase his ability to push out his powers. Maybe that's increasing, too, we never checked."</p><p>"Okay. But wait . . ." Elena increased the energy considerations, as well as the distance to which Sam would be able to push out the anomalies. She winced. "Exponential growth isn't doing us any favors."</p><p>"What?"</p><p>Elena's legs were numb. She sat down on the chair in the corner of Michelle's room. "If this is really the rate of increase, and assuming he can push out his powers further—but that everyone within that space would be affected by the anomalies . . ." The room swam, and her voice cut out.</p><p>"Elena, what is it?"</p><p>She squeezed her eyes shut, then she forced herself to look Michelle in the eyes. "Everyone on this planet would be dead in two weeks."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0028"><h2>28. Countdown</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Michelle sent Sam to take a shower so they could discuss. She sat on the couch next to Patrick, and Elena sat on the floor across from them.</p><p>Elena had to explain everything a few times, since it had been a long time since Michelle had been in a college lab, and Patrick never had. "I'm just tracing this out to where Sam is going to be in a few days," she told them. "See the curve?"</p><p>"How do we know the anomalies will keep following that curve?" Patrick asked.</p><p>Elena set down her laptop. "I mean, I guess we don't. Not really. But as far as I can tell, they have been."</p><p>"So—" Patrick shifted in his seat. "Do we actually know what the anomalies <em>are?</em>"</p><p>She picked up her notebook. "Technically, no. Somehow he's changing how much energy is in the light we see, so that we see different colors."</p><p>"Is that dangerous?" Patrick asked.</p><p>"It could be," Michelle said. "All light is electromagnetic radiation. Nuclear power uses very high energy electromagnetic radiation."</p><p>Patrick raised one eyebrow. "Radioactive stuff just . . . gives off light, and that kills us?"</p><p>Elena shrugged. "You wouldn't hesitate if I told you a laser could kill you, and those are usually just visible light."</p><p>"Okay." Patrick held up his hands. "Fine. But do we know how he's doing that?"</p><p>"No. But we know enough. We know he's changing the energy in light; we know the amount of flux he's giving off has nothing to do with how much he can push out or pull in his powers, but it is changing with time. Always increasing. Increasing more and more the bigger it gets."</p><p>"So he's getting more powerful."</p><p>"We'll all be dead in a week."</p><p>Patrick blinked and shook his head. "Okay, here's what I don't get. Why now? What caused him to get so powerful right now?"</p><p>Elena and Michelle exchanged a glance "We don't know," Michelle said. "Based on the equation Elena used, it's possible for the ability to have been mostly dormant for years, but now—"</p><p>"No, but I mean . . . couldn't something have been, like, keeping it dormant?"</p><p>Elena raised her eyebrows. "And now whatever that is, he's missing it."</p><p>"Exactly," Patrick said.</p><p>"It would have been something that was present at the most recent home," Michelle said.</p><p>"And the ones before that. But—" Elena winced— "I don't know. That would have had to be some kind of really weird device. Those anomalies are weird. They're literally science breaking down. How do you happen to have something in your house that can stop someone who can break down the laws of science?"</p><p>Patrick squinted. "I bet it's garlic."</p><p>Elena rolled her eyes.</p><p>Michelle snapped her fingers in front of Patrick's face. "Crisis situation here."</p><p>"Sorry. Habit."</p><p>"Two weeks," Elena said, "and that's assuming we can get Sam to push out his powers further than he can right now. If not, he'll die way before then. And then—"</p><p><em>The world would be safe</em>.</p><p>Elena's heart sank. The cabin was silent except for the running water from the shower.</p><p>It would stop the problem. It would save the world. It would kill everyone and everything within a hundred foot radius, but that was a small price to pay for the entire world, and it didn't even have to include themselves. If they left Sam in a remote enough place, he could be the only one to die.</p><p>If she asked him to pull in his powers all the way today, he would. If he did, he would be the only one to die.</p><p>There was no way she could ask him to do that. And there was no way they could abandon him, which meant they'd keep teaching him to push his powers outwards, further and further, his range of destruction multiplying . . .</p><p>One of them might be brave enough to do what needed to be done. Patrick never could; she couldn't imagine Michelle making that choice; but someone at Tech United might be able to pull the trigger. If they explained to Sam what they were doing. Of course, he was only eight. There was no way he could understand why he was being made a sacrifice, no way he could be brave or conscious enough to sacrifice himself if they gave him the choice.</p><p>Of course, if someone from Tech United were forcing the sacrifice, they'd probably lie to him. Or possibly just give him a lethal injection.</p><p>Then again, there was no way to know whether his ability <em>required</em> him to even be alive in the first place. Maybe it was merely inherent to the cells, the atoms in his body. And there was no way to test that one, not without—</p><p>A firm tap on the side of the head knocked Elena out of her train of thought. Elena blinked, and Michelle narrowed her eyes at her. "Stop that."</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"I know what you're thinking."</p><p>"Well, what do you suggest?"</p><p>"I suggest we figure this out."</p><p>Elena's breath caught in her throat. "I know, I know, we have to. Because anything else is horrible and obviously not an option. But this is literally an impossible question."</p><p>"Hey," Patrick said. "You know why I'm not worried about this one?"</p><p>Elena groaned. "Because you're incapable of worrying about anything?"</p><p>"Not helpful, Elena," Michelle said.</p><p>He laughed a little. "Because in two days, Elena, you taught Sam how to control the reach of his powers. You figured out how strong the powers were, how fast they were growing, and what they were doing. <em>Two days</em>, Elena. We have seven to stop this."</p><p>She winced. "About that . . . it's more like two before we're constantly sick, five or six before excruciating pain consumes us."</p><p>Patrick shrugged. "If he can control the distance, I bet you can teach him to control the amount, too. And what about whether the energy increases or decreases?"</p><p>"It's erratic, as far as I can tell."</p><p>"That's another thing you can teach him, then."</p><p>Elena bit her lip.</p><p>He smiled. "If anyone can do it, it's you."</p><p>"And what if no one can do it?"</p><p>His smile faded. "Then it truly was an impossible question, and you get to be right about this whole thing being hopeless. That's all you want, anyway."</p><p>Elena flinched.</p><p>Michelle tapped Patrick on the side of the head a bit harder than she'd tapped Elena. "Not helpful."</p><p>"So." Elena stood. "What do we tell Sam about all of this?"</p><p>"Nothing," Michelle said. "If it's terrifying to us, imagine what it's going to do to the person who's causing it."</p><p>"We can't tell him nothing," Elena said.</p><p>"He's eight."</p><p>"Exactly. He's curious, and he's stubborn, and we're going to have to work with him even harder now that we know what's going on. We have to tell him something."</p><p>"Have to tell me what?"</p><p>Elena gasped and whirled to face Sam, whose head peeked out of the bathroom. His curls were plastered down to his head, and he was wrapped in a towel.</p><p>Michelle went over to stand by Elena. "It's really nothing, Sam."</p><p>"Yeah. Nothing," Elena said. "Just that . . . we're going to have to keep working really hard for the next couple of days."</p><p>Sam cocked his head.</p><p>Elena rubbed the back of her neck. "How long have you been listening?"</p><p>"I just heard I'm going to have to work really hard."</p><p>She let out her breath. "Yes."</p><p>"On my powers?"</p><p>Elena nodded. "And you're going to have to trust us. We're going to tell you to do things, and you're just going to have to do them, even if you don't like it or don't understand it."</p><p>Michelle elbowed Elena in the ribs.</p><p>Sam wrinkled up his nose, but nodded. "What do I need to do?"</p><p>"Well, for one thing," Michelle said, "you're going to have to give me all the addresses you can remember for the other houses you've lived at."</p><p>He shrank back. "I don't want to go there!"</p><p>Michelle raised her eyebrows. "Sam."</p><p>A pause, and he sighed. "Okay."</p><p>"You get back in there and get dressed, Sam. You're going to need to be ready to work with Elena just after she finishes something for me."</p><p>Sam disappeared back into the bathroom, and Michelle turned to Elena and Patrick. "Call your families," she said.</p><p>Patrick nodded and took his phone out of his pocket.</p><p>Elena winced. "You don't know—"</p><p>"I'm sick and tired of this, Elena. You don't want to talk about it. You weren't abused, it's just bad, it's just awkward. You think things aren't awkward with my family, too?"</p><p>"I—"</p><p>"Call your mom."</p><p>Elena swallowed hard. "Yes, ma'am."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0029"><h2>29. Forgiveness</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Elena spent a long time with her finger hovering over the "call" button. Her mom had never once reached out to her since she left home. Why did Michelle think that responsibility should fall to Elena?</p><p>She took a deep breath. Their lives were all in danger. This could be her last chance to make amends. It didn't matter whose job it should have been.</p><p>Her mom's phone rang a full four times. Elena let her breath out and started to lower her phone before a muffled, "Hello?" sounded from the other end.</p><p>" . . . Mom?"</p><p>It was silent. Elena held her breath.</p><p>"Hi, Elena."</p><p>This had been a bad idea. She had no idea what to say. What could she say?</p><p>"H-how are things?"</p><p>"It's good." She bit her lip. "Um, it's really good. I'm still studying engineering, got all A's for the first semester this year. One B last semester, though."</p><p>"Oh."</p><p>That was all.</p><p>She shouldn't have tried to do this. Should have known how it would turn out. But Michelle had insisted, and here she was . . . "How are things with you?"</p><p>"Still working in the shop."</p><p>Elena couldn't think of anything else to say.</p><p>"So what's going on?"</p><p>"It's—" Elena took a deep breath— "it's been a long time. I just didn't want to wait any longer to call."</p><p>"You called a few days ago."</p><p>"I know, but . . ."</p><p>"What's changed, Elena? You still blame me for your father's death."</p><p>"No, I don't—I don't blame you for his death." Keeping Elena from visiting him for months <em>before </em>he died—yes, that was her fault.</p><p>She couldn't have known. Elena had never wanted to admit that her mother couldn't have possibly known what was going to happen. But her mother had also been completely unwilling to apologize.</p><p>Apologizing wasn't her mother's style. It had seemed a fatal flaw to Elena. Now, with the perspective of knowing they would probably all be dead in a couple of weeks, it just didn't seem to matter.</p><p>It was still silent on the other end, though Elena could hear the light breathing, the soft static that told her her mother was still there.</p><p>"I . . ." Elena took a deep breath. "I forgive you."</p><p>"Elena, what's this about? Are you okay?"</p><p>"I'm fine, Mom." Her voice cracked. "Just wanted you to know that I forgive you, and I love you."</p><p>"Baby, I . . . I'm so sorry."</p><p>"I know."</p><p>"But you need to tell me what's wrong."</p><p>"Nothing's wrong, I just . . ." Her eyes stung. "I'll come see you if I can."</p><p>"Okay."</p><p>"Okay." Elena nodded. She needed to get back to work if she was to have any hope of fulfilling that promise. "I have to go."</p><p>"Elena . . ."</p><p>"Yes?"</p><p>"I . . . love you too."</p><p>Warm tears streaked down Elena's face, and she ended the call.</p><p>Her phone buzzed almost as soon as she hit the end button. An Amber alert popped up. She started to shove her phone into her pocket, but the license plate number caught her eye.</p><p>The Amber Alert was for their motor home.</p><p>The back of her neck prickled, and she climbed down from the loft. "Um, guys?"</p><p>"You saw your phone?" Patrick asked.</p><p>"Michelle?" Elena called toward the open window to the cab.</p><p>Michelle looked up at them through her rearview mirror and nodded. "I'm already on it. Thought this might happen, so yesterday I started heading in the direction of a friend of mine. We're about an hour away."</p><p>Elena bit her lip. "What if we get caught before then?"</p><p>Patrick rolled his eyes. "That would be the question on your mind."</p><p>"I'm serious, though!"</p><p>Michelle winced. "I'm driving as fast as I can without getting pulled over for speeding, Elena."</p><p>She shifted her weight. "Well, what is your friend going to do about it?"</p><p>"He's going to give us a van."</p><p>"Oh, good idea." Patrick smiled.</p><p>Elena's heart sank. They'd have to leave behind the animals.</p><p>"Elena." Michelle's voice sounded as gentle as her face looked. "I'm so sorry."</p><p>She swallowed hard. "Your friend, can he take care of the animals while we're gone?"</p><p>"He'll do everything he can. But I don't know if we're going to get that camper back."</p><p>Elena nodded, her eyes stinging. It wasn't as if it should come as a surprise to her, or even as a great loss. She had bid farewell to the animals at the end of the previous summer, and she would at the end of this summer even if everything had gone according to plan, and Jim had never come to evaluate, and Sam had never had his stupid anomalies . . .</p><p>Now, they might not even live to see the end of summer.</p><p>She wondered how things would have turned out if they had never found Sam and discovered his abilities. It would still be difficult to get Sam to learn to push the distance of his abilities any further, so maybe there would just be a one hundred foot circle of death out in some neighborhood.</p><p>Would Sam have felt that something was amiss before the destruction took place? If he didn't, he might have accidentally pulled in his flux to a small enough area to kill himself instantly. He would have to notice the effects of his powers on his own body. They'd all be in excruciating pain for hours or days before they finally succumbed to death. Sam would, too. He'd notice, and maybe by instinct he would try pushing his abilities out further, further, until he couldn't anymore—</p><p>If he did die first, would the remainder of the circle be spared?</p><p>Then there was the question of how this had all happened. An exponential growth could go unnoticed for years. But Patrick had asked, why now? Something could have been keeping the ability dormant for the past several years, but what? Or—she hadn't wanted to consider it—maybe nothing had kept it from growing before. Maybe something was causing it to grow now.</p><p>The camper was full of all kinds of odd scientific equipment, but she could imagine no chemicals or computers that could be causing science itself to fail. Then again, she couldn't imagine <em>anything </em>that could cause science itself to fail.</p><p>If it were impossible, then she wouldn't be able to come up with an explanation for it. Without an explanation, she couldn't formulate a theory about a cause. Without a theory . . . it could be anything. They didn't know enough with the data points they had.</p><p>Which meant getting away from the camper might be the best thing. It would rule out one more alternative.</p><p>She slowly walked from one animal's cage to the next, lingering for a longer time at the chameleon cage, although Michelle had cleared away Seamus's body long ago. Finally, she picked up Winter and buried her face in the soft white fur, squeezing tighter than she probably should have been.</p><p>A warm hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Elena."</p><p>She turned, and Patrick stood an awkward distance away from her. "Just, I'm sorry. This whole thing really sucks."</p><p>She wanted nothing more than to forget all of her annoyance with him, forget their bickering, and melt into his arms. But there was work to do.</p><p>"Sam," she said, "ready to make some lights change color?"</p>
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<a name="section0030"><h2>30. Sirens</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>An hour of practice later, Sam collapsed onto the couch, exhausted, and Elena sank into her chair at the kitchen table, burying her head in her hands as soon as she was convinced he wasn't looking.</p><p>He could push his powers out. He could pull them in. Apart from that, he seemed to have absolutely no control over his powers. Sometimes the energy of the light increased, sometimes it decreased. Her LED's—and everything around her—had been every color from red to violet, and outside of the visible range as well.</p><p>He couldn't control the level of flux. A couple of times, her calculations showed that he had, but it was a miscalculation based on the assumption that Sam could never push his powers out further than one hundred feet. He could push his powers further if he really focused, really concentrated and put in a lot of effort. He just couldn't maintain it for long.</p><p>No matter what she did, she couldn't work out what affected whether the energy of the light increased or decreased. And no matter what he did, he couldn't control where the anomalies manifested. He couldn't differentiate between two objects that were equal distance from himself.</p><p>Her head pounded, and she massaged her temples. She wanted to believe the headache was just due to stress, and by her calculations, that was the best guess. But she couldn't shake the terror that the anomalies might be causing her cells to break down already.</p><p>Patrick came over to sit by Elena as Sam's eyelids drooped. Patrick's cheeks were bright red.</p><p>She squinted at his reddened skin. "Did you get some sun?"</p><p>"Been cooped up in the camper like you." Patrick touched his face. "My face feels really warm, though."</p><p><em>Of course it does</em>. Her eyes fell closed. "We've probably been generating a lot of UV."</p><p>Patrick pressed his lips together and settled back in his chair. After a long silence, he leaned his head in close to hers and whispered, "Is it going to hurt?"</p><p>"Is what going to hurt?"</p><p>"You know."</p><p>She swallowed hard. She glanced up at Sam and decided he was just far enough away that if she whispered, he wouldn't overhear. "My specialization is in mechanics, not biology. But as far as I can tell, the electrons are going to be stripped from our atoms little by little. It already happens to Sam all the time, that's why we get shocked every time we touch him."</p><p>"So we'll die of electric shocks?"</p><p>"I don't think so. It should be gradual."</p><p>"How exactly will we die?"</p><p>She took a deep breath. "About the same way you'd die if you were exposed to a lot of radiation, I think. Your DNA gets damaged, your proteins break down. Your organs stop working. If you last long enough, your hair falls out."</p><p>Patrick brought his hand to his head and pulled on a few strands. "So yes, it's going to hurt."</p><p>Elena bit her lip. "It's like dying of cancer, but over the course of a couple of days."</p><p>His head fell back on the chair back, and he let out his breath. "What did you tell your family?"</p><p>Her breath caught in her throat. "Why do you want to know?"</p><p>He held up his hands. "I'm sorry, didn't mean to pry. Just, I had a hard time knowing what to tell my little brothers and sisters, that's all. Was wondering what you told yours."</p><p>She clenched her teeth. "I'm an only child."</p><p>"Sorry. Your parents."</p><p>She slammed down her hand on the table, dropping the whispered tone in favor of a shout. "Just drop it, Patrick, okay? My dad died a couple of years ago."</p><p>Patrick's jaw dropped, and Sam stared at them from the couch. For a moment, the awkwardness was thick enough in the air to touch.</p><p>Elena hadn't meant to say that. She didn't like to talk about it. She wouldn't even tell Michelle. And she'd said it to <em>Patrick</em>.</p><p>After a while, Patrick regained his composure. "I am so sorry."</p><p>She shook her head. "I'm fine."</p><p>Sam shuffled over to the table to where Elena sat. She turned to face him. He stopped short in front of her chair, then put his little arms around her. The room swam, and she returned his embrace.</p><p>"Hey." She patted his back. "Thanks, little man."</p><p>He let go and sat in the chair across from her on his knees. "It's okay, Miss Elena. My daddy died when I was zero. My mom, too."</p><p>Elena blinked against the stinging in her eyes. She should have remembered. Should have been more careful. "I'm sorry, Sam."</p><p>He shrugged. "It would be sadder if I remembered them."</p><p>"Do you know who they are?"</p><p>He shook his head. "I don't know if anyone does."</p><p>Elena put a hand on his, and a loud <em>SNAP </em>sounded just before a sharp pain in her palm.</p><p>"Ow!" Sam pulled back his hand. "You shocked me.</p><p>It wasn't worth arguing who had shocked who. She would have to remember not to touch his hands.</p><p>She didn't want to scare him, but he had to know. "Sam, you know how I always say to push your powers in and out?"</p><p>He nodded, but still held his hand close to his chest.</p><p>"I just wanted to tell you to be careful. Don't pull them in too much, and keep them pushed out as much as you can."</p><p>He cocked his head. "Why?"</p><p>"Because your powers are very high energy. If you pull them in too much, they'll hurt you and anyone who is close to you."</p><p>"Why?"</p><p>"Because you're getting more powerful every day."</p><p>He pursed his lips, then he nodded. "Okay, Miss Elena."</p><p>She smiled, then she shifted in her chair. Maybe Sam's parents had known something about the anomalies. If they could find them . . .</p><p>But then, Sam didn't know who they were. The information might be in his record somewhere, even if they hadn't let Sam know, but there was no way they could access it without going through someone who still wanted them all locked up.</p><p>"Hey Elena!" Michelle called from the cab. "Navigation says we're ten minutes from my friend's place. Everyone packed?"</p><p>Elena sucked in her breath. "We'll get on it." She turned to Sam. "Hey, grab your things. We're going to start driving in a smaller car."</p><p>"Why?"</p><p>"Because—" She grimaced. She didn't want to scare him, but she didn't want to lie to him, either. "Because we just have to. That's how it is."</p><p>"But <em>why?</em>" He crossed his arms and pouted. "I like this motor home!"</p><p>Patrick put a hand on his arm. "You already knew bad guys were chasing us the other day, right, Sam?"</p><p>He nodded. "I thought we lost them."</p><p>"We did, but we just want to be extra safe."</p><p>Sam groaned. "Fine. Why can't we get another motor home?"</p><p>"Because," Elena said, "Miss Michelle's friend is lending us his car. He doesn't have a motor home."</p><p>"Can't we go to Miss Michelle's friend who <em>has</em> a motor home."</p><p>Elena sighed. "None of her friends have motor homes."</p><p>"How do you know? Did you ask her?"</p><p>She resisted the urge to clench her fists. "If she had a friend who had a motor home, don't you think she would have started driving to them, instead of—"</p><p>Sirens. Red and blue lights in the rear view mirrors.</p><p>"Michelle?"</p><p>Michelle's eyes met Elena's in the rearview mirror. They were shiny. "Hey gang."</p><p>A hot weight settled into Elena's stomach. "No. You can't give up."</p><p>"There's three of them. I can't outrun them. There's no larger forest areas nearby here. And even if we get out of range of these police cars, there will be more. Everyone is on the lookout for us. It's the license plate, the amber alert."</p><p>"But if you could just get to your friend's house—"</p><p>"Right now, they don't know that I'm going there. I don't want to get him mixed up in all of this any more than he needs to be."</p><p>Elena's gaze shifted from the road ahead, to Patrick's terrified eyes, to Sam's confused ones, then back to Michelle. "What do you want us to do?"</p><p>"I'm going to hold them off for as long as I can. You three—" her voice cracked— "sneak out of the window as soon as I come to a complete stop. When they search the cabin, it needs to be empty."</p><p>"Where do we go?"</p><p>Michelle tossed her phone over her shoulder—it flew through the open window and onto a cushion the floor, where Patrick had slept the night before. "That's still navigating to my friend's house. If you can get there, he'll help you."</p><p>Elena's throat felt tight, and she had trouble standing up straight. "What's going to happen to you?"</p><p>"They're probably going to arrest me. Patrick and Elena, you've got to solve this. That's the only things that's going to make your testimony seem like anything less than insanity. It's the only thing that's going to get me out of prison."</p><p>Elena's breaths shook. "But can't I be the one to hold them off?"</p><p>Michelle smiled. "They're going to want to talk to the person in the driver's seat." Her smile faded. "Sam, close the curtains. Patrick, grab a backpack for each of you. I'm going to stop in just a moment. Now, get ready to jump."</p><p>Elena locked eyes with her for just one more second. "We'll save you."</p><p>One last smile. "Of course. I'm not worried about that."</p><p>Michelle pulled over to the shoulder and slowed to a stop.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0031"><h2>31. Pulling</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Get the stuff!"</p><p>"Working on it!" Patrick stuffed food from the pantry into the backpacks while Elena ran for the first aid kit. She dumped a couple of light bulbs, batteries, wires, and her energy detector into her own as well, because they'd still need to be able to measure flux. Sam stood in the middle of the motor home looking panicked.</p><p>"Here." Elena put a backpack over his shoulders, careful not to touch him. "Can you climb out of the window?"</p><p>He nodded, and Patrick opened the one on the opposite side from the freeway. He peeked out. "Coast is clear. Let's run."</p><p>With the window open, Elena could just make out the conversation taking place at the front of the motor home.</p><p>"What seems to be the problem, officer?" Michelle's voice asked.</p><p>"We have reports of a missing child that places him on this motor home."</p><p>"Wow. Well, hey, I don't have any kids, but . . ."</p><p>It was difficult to hear all of the words, so Elena focused on the task in front of her. Patrick was the first to jump through the window. It looked to Elena like he landed a little hard on his feet, but he straightened up almost immediately. "Alright, Sam next."</p><p>Elena helped Sam climb up onto the sill, and Patrick helped him down. Both of them got shocked, but didn't pull away. Now wasn't the time to balk at small pains.</p><p>Elena pulled herself through the window and dropped onto the pavement below. The curtains inside the window fluttered in the wind, but Elena couldn't reach the window to close it.</p><p>"We'll have to make a run for it," Patrick whispered.</p><p>"Freeze."</p><p>A husky male voice. Elena slowly turned to face the officer who held a gun out in front of himself. Her breath stopped.</p><p>"Hands above your heads, all three of you!"</p><p>She lifted her hands. Sam whimpered beside her.</p><p>Another officer followed up behind the one who had stopped them, also holding out a gun. "I've got them," she said. "Be careful with the kid."</p><p>The officer in front lowered his gun. "Easy, now." He took a few steps toward them. Elena froze in place. She couldn't have moved if she had wanted to.</p><p>A third police officer came in from behind, leading Michelle her handcuffs. "These the kids you don't know?"</p><p>Michelle kept a casual expression—Elena would never know how. "What are you going to do, shoot them?"</p><p>Sam let out another whimper and broke into a run.</p><p>The police officer holding the gun shoved it into her waist band and ran after Sam. Patrick followed close behind.</p><p>Michelle sprung into action. She whirled around, jamming her elbow into the gut of the officer who had been leading her. He grunted and sprung forward, whipping out his baton and raising it.</p><p>"Michelle!" Elena cried too late. Michelle turned to fight back at just the wrong moment—the baton struck her in the side of the head. She dropped.</p><p>Elena ran to Michelle while Patrick ran toward Sam. She put a hand to Michelle's neck. A weak pulse. She was alive, but out cold, and Elena couldn't imagine she'd last long without medical attention. Blood spilled from her nose.</p><p>Strong arms lifted Elena to her feet, but she whirled around. She swung her first, but the officer blocked the punch. He raised a baton and cracked it down on her back.</p><p>The breath whooshed out of her lungs, and she stumbled forward onto her knees. The pain came a second later—spreading down her back and through her limbs, crippling, excruciating. <em>Fight it!</em> she told herself. <em>Don't give in now!</em></p><p>But even as she did, the police officer forced her hands behind her back, and cold metal pressed into her wrists.</p><p>The pressure from the handcuffs released before they could be clicked into place. Elena forced herself onto her feet—Patrick had kicked away the officer.</p><p>Elena breathed into thank him, but Sam came rushing up to them too soon. "Guys, I'm going to pull the manomalies in."</p><p>Elena squinted at first, then she gasped. "You can't—"</p><p>The officer Patrick had kicked down rose to his feet, and Elena began to run. Patrick was close behind her.</p><p>"Elena, we have to stop him!"</p><p>"We can't. Now <em>run!</em>"</p><p>Men and women's shouts, and Sam's tiny cries, faded against the slapping of Elena's shoes against the ground and the pounding of her pulse in her ears.</p><p>A loud cry sounded from the direction they'd just left, then died out altogether.</p><p>Elena stopped midstride and almost stumbled forward. Panting, Patrick came to a stop and walked back to where Elena was.</p><p>"What happened?" Patrick whispered.</p><p>Elena's limbs went numb. "Sam? <em>Sam?</em>"</p><p>"Oh no." Patrick broke into a run, and Elena followed as fast as her dead legs would allow.</p><p>The three officers who had been fighting them before, plus two others, laid unconscious on the ground. Michelle laid a little distance away, still bleeding.</p><p>"Give it a couple of minutes," Elena managed to choke out. "The static needs to dissipate a little. The electrocution could stop your heart."</p><p>Patrick grimaced and reached into his backpack. He pulled out a water bottle. "I used to prank my little siblings by shuffling on the carpet and then shocking them. This is how my mom punished me, but it also got rid of the static."</p><p>He uncapped the bottle and splashed the cold water all over Sam's body. Little <em>snap!</em>s accompanied the first few drops, but the rest simply drenched him.</p><p>Sam pulled his breath in and rolled over, groaning. Elena stepped forward and picked him up, shivering as the cold water on his clothes soaked her as well, then she turned to Patrick. "Okay, now you get Michelle."</p><p>He shook his head. "Elena, I can't carry her far. We're going to have to take turns with Sam as it is."</p><p>"We can't just leave her!"</p><p>"She's going to be okay."</p><p>"She's bleeding, she got hit in the head—"</p><p>"And someone will be here to give her medical attention. Any minute."</p><p>Elena stared at the scene around her for a long moment. She knew Patrick was right, as much as it pained her to admit it even to herself. Cold water had been enough to rouse Sam, if only a little. The other officers would wake up any minute. If they hadn't already called for backup, someone would notice the scene of destruction any minute and call in more police to the area. They had to get out as fast as they could.</p><p>Hot tears spilled down Elena's cheeks. "Okay," she said. "Let's run."</p><p>Any other day, she might not have had the strength to run with an seventy-pound child on her back. Today she barely felt him. Her ankle should have protested as her stitches bulged. She could be sore in the morning. Right now, her body was numb.</p><p>Patrick believed Michelle was going to be fine. By all logic, he should have been right. So why couldn't she believe it?</p><p>She had always thought she was the logical one, but everything with Sam had thrown her into question. It seemed the worst things came to them. What were they going to do without Michelle? Elena and Patrick had barely been able to stop arguing for a long enough time to make any decisions. She wasn't going to be able to give Sam the medical attention he needed; she could barely do first aid!</p><p><em>Patrick and Elena</em>, <em>you've got to solve this</em>, Michelle had said. <em>It's the only thing that's going to get me out of prison.</em></p><p>Sam's anomalies had pushed back outwards again. Even when they were a long distance away from the fallen bodies, and Elena passed him off to Patrick, the small electric shock that passed between them barely hurt.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0032"><h2>32. Choices</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The navigation on Michelle's phone led them to a little blue house at the end of a cul de sac. Her friend Jeffrey, a lanky man with sandy brown hair and black grease stains all over his pants and shirt, lead them into his house without hesitation as soon as they said Michelle's name.</p><p>They sat down on his couch. Sam between them slept with his head on Patrick's arm, and Jeffrey went into his kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. "Is Michelle okay?" he asked.</p><p>Elena bit her lip and turned to Patrick, who sighed and said, "The police caught up to us. We had to put up a fight, and Michelle got hit in the head."</p><p>Jeffrey's jaw dropped. "Is she okay?"</p><p>"We had to run," Patrick said. "She was breathing when we left. We don't know . . ." He pressed his lips together.</p><p>Jeffrey let hi breath out. "They hit the little guy, too?"</p><p>"No," Elena said, gently tousling Sam's hair. "He saved us. Used his . . . powers. But they hurt him, too."</p><p>"The people or the powers?"</p><p>"Powers," Elena said.</p><p>Jeffrey raised his eyebrows. "Quite an ordeal you've been through, there."</p><p>Elena nodded. "We need to get back on the road as soon as possible, before they track us to you."</p><p>Jeffrey came out with two mugs of coffee. "And I want to get you back out there as soon as possible. I've got a van you can use, just into the shop a couple of weeks ago."</p><p>"And you're just giving it to us?"</p><p>Jeffrey smiled and looked down. "I owe Michelle. For a lot."</p><p>Elena's throat felt tight. She knew the feeling.</p><p>"But before you go, I want to share something with you." He took his phone out of his pocket and held it out to them. An address in Texas showed on the screen.</p><p>"What's that?" Elena asked.</p><p>He grinned. "I've got a friend who works in record keeping at CPS. Owes me a favor. She's going to get in a lot of trouble if anyone finds out, though. This is the last known residence of the parents of this little guy."</p><p>Elena gasped. "How could you possibly trace that? We don't even know his last name."</p><p>"Planck isn't exactly a common first name. That, and Michelle gave me the last names of some of his recent foster homes. Not a lot of redheads, and we know that Sam is about eight years old. More than enough to narrow it down."</p><p>It might be nothing. It might be a dead end; Sam's parents might not even live there anymore; they might not know anything; there might not be anything to know from so early in Sam's life. But it was a lead, and it was a lot more than they had had a few minutes ago.</p><p>"Thank you so much, Jeffrey," Elena said. "I've got Michelle's phone, can you text it to her?"</p><p>He nodded and tapped away at his device.</p><p>Sam stirred on Patrick's shoulder, and Patrick shifted his position to be able to pick him up. "You okay, buddy?"</p><p>"It hurts," Sam whined, then his eyelids fluttered closed again.</p><p>Patrick picked him up onto his back, and Elena followed. "Thank you so much, Jeffrey."</p><p>Jeffrey walked them to the back door. "Glad to be able to help. Please let me know when you find out how Michelle is doing."</p><p>"I will," Elena said, "but it might be hard to get ahold of her, since I have her phone."</p><p>"She knows you have her phone, yes?"</p><p>"Yeah, I'm sure she'll call it when she wakes up." <em>If she wakes up</em>. Elena pushed the thought out of her mind.</p><p>Patrick passed Sam over to Elena, and a little electric shock passed between them. Jeffrey led them out to the shop and handed over the keys. "We'll bring it back soon," Patrick said.</p><p>"I'm sure you will, if you can."</p><p>Jeffrey opened the back door, and Elena placed Sam in the backseat. He groaned and shifted into place, then he fastened his seatbelt.</p><p>"Thanks so much, Jeffrey," Elena said. "I don't know where we would have been."</p><p>"Well, hopefully you can get your names cleared before too much longer."</p><p>Elena made herself smile and wave as she jumped into the passenger seat, but she couldn't shake the thought that it wouldn't matter whether or not they cleared their names, if they waited another week or two. Nothing would matter at all.</p><hr/><p>Elena set up the navigation on Michelle's phone; Jeffrey's car was set up with a charger station. It would be a twenty hour drive to the house from where they were, assuming they didn't stop to rest. Elena didn't figure that would be an option. She had never driven a van before—Patrick and Michelle had had to get special licensing to drive the motor home—but even if she could drive so they could take turns, she couldn't imagine sitting in the truck seat for twenty hours.</p><p>A long silence passed between them as they returned to the freeway. It was rush hour, and the traffic was heavy, but for some reason it didn't stress her out. Maybe some part of her had come to grips with how long their journey would be. They'd spend some time in heavy traffic, and later into the night, they'd make up for lost time by traveling with no traffic at all.</p><p>Sam slept peacefully in the back, and Patrick said nothing, so for the first time in awhile, there was complete silence. Elena reclined her chair and leaned back in her seat a little, resting her eyes.</p><p>"What are we doing, Elena?"</p><p>Elena looked over to Patrick, whose eyes were shiny. She gasped—she had never seen him like this. "Are you okay?"</p><p>"I don't get what we're doing."</p><p>"What do you mean?"</p><p>"I mean, what do we think we're going to accomplish? We figured out what was going on with Sam's powers. Why did we even need to do that?"</p><p>"So that we could bring him back and have a story to tell that wouldn't sound completely crazy. He'll be able to demonstrate, and—"</p><p>"Okay, fine. Now we know what's going on. And we keep going."</p><p>Elena swallowed hard. "Yeah. We know enough to clear our names, or at least reduce our sentence a little. But that's not what it's about anymore. We don't know enough to reduce the flux, or control how the energy changes."</p><p>His eyebrows furrowed. "We were running away from the Tech United people because they were going to experiment on Sam, and now <em>we're</em> experimenting on Sam."</p><p>Elena's breath caught in her throat. "Patrick, we're not—"</p><p>"Oh. No." He shook his head. "No, we're taking great care of him. That's why he's passed out and injured in the back."</p><p>"Patrick, we're still—"</p><p>"We're accomplishing <em>nothing</em>, Elena! We're on the run from the police, and we're the only people on the planet who knows it's going to end if we can't figure out a way to stop this thing. And yet we're running <em>away</em> from the Tech United facility, which has the actual equipment we'd need to run real tests."</p><p>Elena felt like the police officer's baton had struck her in the back again. Patrick was supposed to be the one who didn't worry. It had always driven her crazy, but now she realized how much she relied on him being the one who kept calm when she felt like her life dangled on a precipice.</p><p>Days ago, she'd worried about losing her job like it was the end of the world. Patrick had merely watched, unsympathetic to her struggling, but something about how Patrick and Michelle had kept their calm had comforted her on a deeper level. Now the world was ending. Of course he was worried. How could she expect him not to be?</p><p>She just wished he wasn't. As crazy as it sounded to think it, she missed the old Patrick.</p><p>She took a deep breath. If he couldn't keep his calm, she would need to. "Okay. What do you suggest we do?"</p><p>He blinked a few times and wiped his eyes. "I think we should talk to Tech United now."</p><p>Elena winced. "I don't think that's a good idea."</p><p>"Why not?"</p><p>"For one thing, Sam won't go for it."</p><p>"He's eight and we have the car. And he's asleep."</p><p>Elena checked over her shoulder to make sure it was still true. His eyes were closed, and he was slumped over in a position that could only be comfortable in sleep. "I don't trust them, Patrick. Do you?"</p><p>"Then we go to the police."</p><p>She considered it. He might be right. They would only make things worse for themselves by continuing to run from the authorities. But they couldn't just turn themselves in. That confrontation needed to involve Tech United, too, or they'd just be arrested, and their claims would be dismissed as crazy.</p><p>Or maybe they wouldn't. At this point, it didn't matter. They didn't have time to try to convince other people they weren't crazy, and they didn't have time to argue with lab scientists about experimental methods. They had only enough time to solve the mystery, to save the world from Sam. That's what Michelle had told them to do.</p><p>"Patrick, if Sam can't push his powers out any further, we have about six days to figure out what's going on."</p><p>"I thought it was seven."</p><p>"Seven before we die. Six before—" her voice cracked— "before the pain is more than we can take."</p><p>"Okay, fine. But that's my point. Who cares if we get arrested? What matters is that this mystery gets solved."</p><p>"Exactly. That's why we're heading to Sam's birth family."</p><p>"Yeah, but—" Patrick grimaced— "but is that really our best shot at getting this solved?"</p><p>"It's our <em>only</em> shot."</p><p>He shook his head. "Tech United has the best chance of solving this, not us."</p><p>Elena bit her lip. He was right. Tech United would solve it easily. She lowered her voice, even though she was confident Sam was still out cold: "Yeah, they'll solve it the easy way. They'll kill him, Patrick."</p><p>His jaw pulsed. "No, no way. They want to be able to control those anomalies way too much to kill him."</p><p>He could be right. They might want control over the laws of the universe enough to risk the lives of everyone in it to get what they wanted. Elena shuddered. "Tech United having free reign over the laws of science would be worse."</p><p>"You'd rather the world end than trust Tech United with it?"</p><p>She let her eyes fall closed. "You'd rather Tech United have control over the world than for one person to die?"</p><p>"No, I—"</p><p>"Because one of these will happen if we bring him back. There's no way to avoid it. They don't believe us, or they're not careful with how they do their tests, and the world ends. Or they're not careful with pushing out and pulling in the anomalies, or they're too careful about what happens to the world, and Sam dies, maybe a few other people. Or they do their experiments just right, and they have control. And they can control the laws of physics."</p><p>"What's wrong with that? Sam already can!"</p><p>"And given the choice, he uses them to make things turn pretty colors. What do you think Tech United will use them for?"</p><p>Patrick blinked a few times and let his breath out. "Okay. The world ends, or it falls under the control of a corporation that was okay with experimenting on a kid to get that power . . . or the kid dies."</p><p>Elena took a deep breath. "Yeah."</p><p>It was too much for her to internalize. She couldn't keep calm, but she couldn't panic either. For a long time, it was silent in the van.</p><p>"So what do we do?" Patrick said.</p><p>Elena fixed her eyes on the road. "If we can solve this, we put a stop to the anomalies. We don't ask him to demonstrate them. We tell him <em>never</em> to use them. We return Sam to the police."</p><p>"Then we go to prison for the rest of our lives."</p><p>She smiled a little. "And the world will be saved, and so will Sam."</p><p>Patrick set down his arm on the rest between them and opened his hand. She placed her hand into his.</p><p>"Okay, Elena," he said softly, a single tear tracing its way down his cheek. "Prison it is."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0033"><h2>33. Slip</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They stopped at a fast food restaurant for a dinner break about an hour later. Sam was groggy and quiet at dinner, and he complained about his head and stomach hurting, but he ate without question. He didn't ask where they were headed.</p><p>When she paid for the food, Elena caught herself worrying about whether she would run out of money if they kept on the road for too long. The idea that she didn't have to worry about money anymore was still foreign to her.</p><p>They were nearing Nevada. There had been no amber alert for this van, and they were far enough from where Sam had gone missing that no one around would have seen any notices with his face, if there had ever been any. No one would recognize them or find them suspicious. That was, assuming they didn't notice the tint of off-color that surrounded Sam wherever he went.</p><p>It was becoming more and more noticeable to Elena, but she was constantly aware of it. If their journey took any more than a couple of days, people would start to see the color changes when Sam came nearby. Not that they would suspect Sam, but she would rather their group not arouse any feelings of general suspicion everywhere they went.</p><p>Her head also started to hurt constantly. She kicked herself for not having thought to pack painkillers, but realized that she would have needed to ration them pretty heavily for the coming days even if she had. The headache was nothing to what she would be feeling if they hadn't solved this in a couple of days.</p><p>The food seemed to do Sam some good, and his eyes were wide as they filed back into the van. "What happened to the motor home?" he asked.</p><p>Elena looked over her shoulder at him, almost wishing she had opted to sit in the back to keep him company, but also thankful for the distance from the source of her pounding headache. That was irrational, since the energy flux wasn't any greater closer to Sam unless he was pulling in his powers, but she couldn't help feeling a little safer at a few extra feet away from him. "We had to leave it behind. The bad guys caught up with us."</p><p>"What about your animals?"</p><p>She felt a stabbing pain in her chest. If they had made it to Jeffrey's, he could have taken care of the animals. Now, there was no way to know what would become of them. She couldn't imagine the police taking special care to make sure they were treated well. "They're gone, Sam."</p><p>He gasped. "Even your dog?"</p><p>"Even Winter."</p><p>"Did they die?" His jaw dropped. "Oh no, did I kill them?"</p><p>Elena shook her head. "No, no. We just had to leave them behind with the camper."</p><p>"Sam," Patrick said, "what do you remember about when the police officers caught up with us?"</p><p>Sam rubbed his eyes. "I remember they were chasing us, then Miss Michelle pulled over." He scooted forward in his chair. "Where's Miss Michelle?"</p><p>"She—" Elena winced. She couldn't tell him. "She had to go away."</p><p>"Why?"</p><p>Patrick turned to look at Sam just for a moment. "Because she had to fight the bad guys off."</p><p>"But I fought them all off. I used my powers for good, like you told me."</p><p>Elena and Patrick exchanged a glance. "Sam," Elena said, "what do you remember about using your powers?"</p><p>"Everything, I think. You told me not to pull in my powers or I would hurt the people around me. But superheroes sometimes <em>do</em> hurt people, they hurt bad guys. And these guys—" His eyes widened once again. "Wait a minute! I remember what happened to Miss Michelle, she got hit in the head!"</p><p>Elena's voice caught in her throat. "Right, what Patrick meant—"</p><p>"You said she was going to fight bad guys! But she got hurt, she can't fight bad guys anymore! You <em>lied!</em>"</p><p>Patrick shook his head. "No, Sam, I didn't mean to say—"</p><p>"You're supposed to be the good guys and not lie to me! Like the Tech United people told me they wouldn't hurt me when they were looking at the manomalies, but they tried to put me in a big scary machine. They lied because they're bad guys." His lower lip trembled. "Are you the bad guys? Is Michelle <em>dead?</em>"</p><p>"Sam, listen!" The sharpness of Elena's voice startled even herself. "Michelle's tough. Yes, you're right, she got hit in the head. But she's not dead. She's going to be fine."</p><p>Sam raised his eyebrows. "She was bleeding a lot, Miss Elena. I saw a guy in a movie bleed that much, and he died."</p><p>"Well, Michelle's a lot stronger than the guy in that movie." Her voice shook against her will. She couldn't hold those thoughts in her head, hadn't allowed herself to.</p><p>"Elena, are you <em>sure—</em>"</p><p>"<em>Stop it, Sam!</em>"</p><p>Sam went quiet. Patrick placed a hand on Elena's shoulder. Hot tears ran down her cheeks.</p><p>She caught Sam's eye in the rearview mirror. "Sorry," he whispered.</p><p>It was hard enough hearing an eight-year-old's rational doubts about whether Michelle would survive long enough for medical attention to reach her. But his other words bothered her more. "Sam, do you still think we're the bad guys?"</p><p>"No. You're both crying. Bad guys don't cry."</p><p>Elena turned over to Patrick. There were no tears in his eyes. "Okay, but Patrick's not crying."</p><p>"He is on the inside."</p><p>Patrick's knuckles turned white as he gripped the wheel.</p><p>Elena sighed. "Okay, Sam. Only the truth now. We won't lie to you anymore."</p><p>"Where are we going?"</p><p>"You know the guy we got this van from?"</p><p>"No."</p><p>"Okay, well, his name is Jeffrey. We talked to him for a little while, you were there but you were asleep for most of it. He gave us an address for the house where your family lived when you were born."</p><p>"Which family?"</p><p>"Your birth family."</p><p>He was silent for a moment, shock filling his eyes. "Do they still live there?"</p><p>"We don't know, Sam."</p><p>"Do we know their names?"</p><p>"No, we don't. Just the address. But we're hoping we can find out."</p><p>He smiled and settled back in his chair. "I bet they're super nice. I bet they'd never burn my hands or sell my pets when they got mad at me."</p><p>That hot lump rose into Elena's throat again. "Yeah," she managed to choke out. And some part of her meant it. Even if they were really bad, she doubted they'd be quite that bad.</p><p>For the most part, though, she was just worried they wouldn't be there.</p><p>"So." He kicked his feet forward and back. "What should I do first when I meet my parents? I think I'll show them my powers."</p><p>"No!" Both Elena and Patrick cried out at the same time.</p><p>"I won't pull them in to hurt anyone!" He pouted. "I just want to show them that I have superhero powers! Do you think they'll have powers, too?"</p><p>Elena hadn't thought too deeply into it. The ability to bend the rules of science according to one's will didn't strike her as something that could be passed on genetically. "I don't want you to get your hopes up too high, Sam. They might not even be there."</p><p>"I know." He crossed his arms and slumped in his chair. "Why are we going there, anyway? Are they going to save us from the bad guys?"</p><p>Elena breathed in to lie, but remembered her promise. "We're thinking we might be able to find some clues about how to control your powers."</p><p>"I can totally control them!"</p><p>"But you can't—" she winced— "I mean, you can't control what color things change to. And you can't control how much total power you have."</p><p>"Yeah, but I've been practicing the pushing and pulling and stuff! I can push them out really far." He squeezed his eyes shut, and the pressure in Elena's head released for just a moment. "Or I can pull them in."</p><p>A blinding pain struck her, tingling all the nerves in her body, making her head feel like it was bound to explode any moment. Patrick gasped, the van swerved, and Sam cried out before the pain stopped short.</p><p>"Sorry!" Sam said. "I forgot."</p><p>Elena let her breath out, her heart pounding. The power to reshape reality rested in the hands of a forgetful eight-year-old. Even if they taught him to control his powers perfectly, to bring his own flux down to zero, it would never be enough.</p><p>One slip, one moment of great temptation to prove himself or impress someone, and he would doom the planet.</p>
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<a name="section0034"><h2>34. Home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They spent the night in the van, Patrick and Sam sprawled in the back while Elena laid on her reclined chair. She awoke to a headache that was much worse than the night before, but it wasn't the headache that had awoken her. A sharp pain on her shoulder jolted her awake.</p><p>"Sorry!" Sam pulled his hand back, shaking it.</p><p>The shocks were getting worse. Elena rubbed her arm and shifted her seat into upright position. "What's up?"</p><p>"The colors."</p><p>Elena blinked a few times. The color shift from Sam's anomalies was visible now, no denying that. For the time being, everything in the van looked a little redder than it needed to be—Sam's hair was a darker red, and his lips were shifting towards black. His shirt had been blue the day before, she could have sworn, but it was green today.</p><p>She tried to imagine how she would react to it if she saw it from the perspective of an outsider. She'd consider that her eyes were playing tricks on her, then she'd think there was some kind of odd lighting in the area. Even if it kept up and she couldn't find the source of the odd light, she'd only be confused, not suspicious. Without having met Sam and collecting data herself, she wouldn't suspect he was responsible for shifting the laws of science as the universe knew them.</p><p>"I'm going to get caught, Elena," Sam whispered. "Those Tech United people—they know what to look for.</p><p>She sat up straight—her head throbbed in protest. He was right. The color distortion would act as a beacon. She'd thought they had a few more days, but they didn't. Time was up.</p><p>"Patrick?"</p><p>Patrick groaned and shifted, pulling himself into an upright position. She recognized the pain in his face. "Do we have painkillers?"</p><p>Elena winced. "No. And it's only going to get worse. Sam, are you pushing the anomalies outwards?"</p><p>"Yes, I am!"</p><p>"Are you pushing as far as you can?"</p><p>He rocked on his heels. "But they'll see! Shouldn't I pull them in, just a little more?"</p><p>"No, no!" Patrick and Elena cried at once, and Sam flinched.</p><p>"Sorry, Sam." Patrick placed a hand on Sam's shoulder. "Didn't mean to scare you."</p><p>"Sam," Elena said, "Pushing outwards weakens the signal. It makes you harder to find. And pulling in is dangerous."</p><p>"I pulled them in more than this yesterday, why can't I just pull in a little?"</p><p>"Because—" Elena bit her lip. They hadn't actually told Sam that the anomalies were getting worse, hadn't wanted to scare him.</p><p>"I'm getting more powerful, aren't I?" Sam asked.</p><p>She swallowed hard.</p><p>"I can feel it," he said. "I can feel the power."</p><p>"What does it feel like?"</p><p>"It hurts, like little shocks on my skin all the time."</p><p>Emma reached forward for a water bottle and set it in front of Sam. "Run some of the water on your skin, it'll help with the static." <em>And protect us from it</em>, she couldn't add without scaring him.</p><p>Sam poured a little water into the cap and ran it along his arm, then rubbed it in. He passed it to Patrick, who did the same thing. Water dripped onto the floor of the van, but that was a good thing. The more water around to take in the static, the safer they were.</p><p>"Sam," she said, "can you push out any further?"</p><p>He set down the cap and closed his eyes, squinting as he concentrated. For a fleeting moment, the pain in Elena's head faded, and the colors in the van shifted almost back to where she would have expected them to be. Then it all came crashing back down.</p><p>Sam opened his eyes, and they sparkled. "I can't anymore, Miss Elena."</p><p>Elena breathed in to speak, but Patrick put his hand on Sam's shoulder. "Take it easy, Sam. Just keep them pushed out as far as you can."</p><p>Sam let his breath out. The headache lessened just slightly.</p><p>"I think I can hold it here," Sam said, though his voice was a bit strained.</p><p>Patrick nodded. "Sam, we're almost at your parents' old house. Less than an hour now."</p><p>"Okay. Let's go." He sat up on his knees. "Miss Elena, are you going to keep doing superhero training with me?"</p><p>She sighed. "Not right now, Sam." She had no more tests to run. What good would it do her to measure the flux again? She didn't need the same information again. She needed new information.</p><p>"Patrick, are you ready to drive us?" Elena asked.</p><p>He nodded and made his way to the front of the van.</p><p>Elena started to get out of the car to switch to the front seat, but Sam tugged on her sleeve, his wide green eyes staring into hers. "Can you stay with me?"</p><p>She couldn't resist the look on his face, so she rode in the backseat as Patrick pulled away, the navigation on Michelle's phone still running. He pulled his knees into his chest and stared out of the window.</p><p>She couldn't imagine what he must be feeling. It didn't matter how much they'd tried to tell him his parents probably wouldn't be there. In his shoes, she'd be trying to tell herself the same things. She would never have convinced herself not to panic, any more than she could now convince an eight-year-old.</p><p>The navigation lead them off the main road and out through the hills. The grass over the hills might have been particularly dead, or its colors might have shifted because of Sam, or Sam's abilities might be killing it as they passed—she had no way of knowing.</p><p>Ten minutes at a time would pass without seeing any other cars, and it was at least five minutes between houses. The navigation on Michelle's phone popped in and out, until Elena finally memorized the last few turns and closed the app.</p><p>Finally, they pulled up to the address Jeffrey had given them.</p><p>Elena didn't know what she should have been expecting. The place looked so innocent. It was a little red house with a beaten up roof. She couldn't see any lights on from the outside, but it was daytime. But there was a car in the driveway, if you could call it a driveway—it was more like a dirt path that lead up to the garage—so she assumed someone was home.</p><p>She got out of the car and went to help Sam out of it. His legs were shaking so hard, she finally gave up and picked him up, carrying him along with her as they walked toward the front door. Had he been any heavier, she couldn't possibly have had the energy.</p><p>"This is it," she whispered as they stood in front of the front door.</p><p>Patrick nodded, and he gave Sam's hair a quick tousle and Elena a small smile before raising his hand to knock.</p><p>Footsteps sounded inside, and then the door swung open.</p>
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<a name="section0035"><h2>35. Trapped</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was Jim Baker.</p><p>Elena half expected Sam to jump out of her arms and start running. He did just the opposite—he froze in her arms, eyes wide and fixed on Jim.</p><p>Patrick charged straight for Jim and swung his fist. Jim caught it and pushed Patrick back; he stumbled back fell down the little flight of stairs on the porch, his head slamming hard on the ground. He didn't move.</p><p>Elena could come back to him later. She turned around and ran for the van, clutching Sam tightly.</p><p>"Elena, you can't run anymore!"</p><p>For a moment, she kept running. Her lungs burned, her back strained under Sam's weight, her stitches pulled and her knees threatened to buckle with every step.</p><p>But Jim was right. There was nothing she could do. They had nowhere to go—if this had been a trap, they had no more leads on how to solve the mystery of Sam's powers.</p><p>She stopped just short of the van, put one hand on the driver side door. "How did you find us?"</p><p>"Planted an address in the CPS database. We figured you'd be trying to figure out where Sam came from."</p><p>"Great." She set Sam down beside herself, and held onto his arm to steady him. "So you know where his home really is."</p><p>"It's a dead end, Elena."</p><p>"How do you know?"</p><p>"Don't you think we would have tried to find Sam's parents? Don't you think that's the <em>first</em> place we would have gone?"</p><p>She swallowed hard.</p><p>"Where's my mom and dad?" Sam asked.</p><p>Jim kept his eyes on Elena. "His father is long gone, and his mother is dead."</p><p>"<em>No!</em>" Sam's face crumpled, and he buried it in Elena's side. She reached down and rubbed his back, her own eyes stinging.</p><p>"You're out of options, Elena. You need to come with me. I can help."</p><p>"I won't let you hurt him," Elena said.</p><p>"We don't want to," Jim said.</p><p>"How do I know you won't?"</p><p>"If I had wanted to kill him, I would have shot him as soon as you opened the door."</p><p>Sam's cries grew louder.</p><p>Elena glanced from Sam back to Jim. "Do you know why the anomalies are happening?"</p><p>"His mother was a physicist, but other than that, we don't have any leads on why he is the way he is. Right now, we're focused on what's happening and how it works."</p><p>The off-colored world around her spun—the headaches seemed to be getting worse by the moment.</p><p>"Come with us. We'll try to save him. We'll try to save all of you." Jim reached toward her.</p><p>Elena tried to jerk away, but it was too late. A massive electric shock passed between them—she screamed as she collapsed to her knees. Her shoulder where he had touched it burned—it felt like the time she'd stuck a paperclip in an outlet as a child.</p><p>Jim was the first to pull himself together. "We have to get back to the facility."</p><p>"Do you know what's wrong with Sam?"</p><p>"We have a good guess, yes."</p><p>"Do you know how to stop it?"</p><p>"No."</p><p>She placed an arm around Sam.</p><p>"But we want to try."</p><p>"I've been trying! He can control the area of the anomalies, the range, but the flux is always the same."</p><p>Jim's eyes widened. "He can change the affected radius at will?"</p><p>"Um . . . yeah, something like that."</p><p>"And the intensity grows as the volume shrinks? Proportionally, every time?"</p><p>She blinked a couple of times. "Yes."</p><p>A small smile. "That fills in some gaps for us. We think we can fill in some gaps for you."</p><p>Her voice caught in her throat—she could have sworn the pain in her head grew even stronger as they spoke. "You really think this will work? You think I'm going to come with you?"</p><p>"I don't think you have anywhere else to go."</p><p>She looked over at Sam. What did it matter if Tech United were the ones who killed Sam? The anomalies were killing him already. They'd kill her, too, and Patrick, and anyone else who was nearby enough.</p><p>She'd learned that research and science and discovery were the way to ensure things would go well, ensure that she would be safe. But they were useless in the face of the unexplainable, and uncontrollable. Since she'd discovered these anomalies, every time she tried to make things go well, every time she tried to control something, it turned against her. She couldn't hold on any longer. She had to let go.</p><p>Maybe Tech United could solve the mysteries of the anomalies and save them. Maybe Sam would die.</p><p>But if she gave into them, maybe he would be the <em>only</em> one to die.</p><p>"Just . . ." She winced, putting a hand to her head. "Just give us a minute, okay?"</p><p>"Of course," Jim said, and he stepped back toward the house, just out of earshot.</p><p>"What's going on?" Sam asked through teary eyes.</p><p>Elena knelt down and wiped his tears away. "Your anomalies are dangerous, Sam."</p><p>"I know."</p><p>"I mean . . . they're <em>really</em> dangerous."</p><p>"I promise I won't hurt anyone anymore. I'll be careful! I can . . . push further . . ." He squeezed his eyes shut, and the pain lessened for a moment.</p><p>Then he let his breath out, and it all returned.</p><p>"It's okay, Sam," Elena said, brushing back his hair. "But . . . we don't know how to help you."</p><p>"But you're the smartest person ever! You solved that one problem no one could solve!"</p><p>"I know, but I can't solve this one." Elena wiped her eyes. "Tech United wants to help you."</p><p>"They're going to experiment on me!"</p><p>"I know. But they're going to try to help."</p><p>"They're the <em>bad</em> guys!"</p><p>"We don't have any other choices, Sam."</p><p>"No! You can't work with the bad guys! Then <em>you'll</em> be bad guys!"</p><p>"Sam—"</p><p>"No! You can't make me!"</p><p>Elena looked him right in the eyes. "I need you to listen to me. Can you do that?"</p><p>Sam sniffed and nodded.</p><p>"Okay. We don't know what's happening with your abilities. But you know how your head hurts right now, and your skin, and your muscles?"</p><p>"Yeah?"</p><p>"That's going to happen to a lot more people. And we don't know how to stop it."</p><p>"Am I . . ." His eyes widened. "Am <em>I</em> the bad guy?"</p><p>"It's not . . . it's not that simple. But your anomalies . . . your powers . . . they're really strong."</p><p>"Is Tech United going to take them away?"</p><p>"They want to help you control them."</p><p>"And what if I can't?"</p><p>"Then . . ." Her eyes fell closed. She could <em>not</em> tell an eight year old that he was going to die. But at the same time, lying had gotten them nowhere.</p><p>"What if I die?"</p><p>She took a deep breath. "We're going to do <em>everything</em> we can to save you."</p><p>His eyes filled with tears once again, and they pierced straight through her. But he nodded. "Okay, Miss Elena."</p><p>She lifted Sam in her arms and stood. The sharp, sparking pains all over from the anomalies stood out far above and beyond the already-unbearable burning from her exhaustion. "Okay."</p>
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<a name="section0036"><h2>36. Power</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The ride back to the facility was long and silent. Elena sat in the front while Patrick and Sam slept in the back. The engine sputtered a few times when Jim first started it up, but the car still ran.</p><p>Based on the rate of growth of the flux, it wouldn't have worked if they had kept running for one more day. Her detecting devices had stopped working already. She hoped Tech United would have more sturdy equipment.</p><p>The pain was still overwhelming. Jim offered her some painkillers when they had first taken off, and he had taken twice as many himself, but it wasn't quite enough to keep her from suffering. She tried to think about something else, anything else—but what came to mind was the terror of what would happen next. The colors around them were obviously off. Drivers of cars nearby stared. Sam slept fitfully, whimpering and sweating, and Patrick grimaced in his sleep. She worried about what would happen to them, what would happen to Sam . . .</p><p>She squeezed her eyes shut and focused instead on the excruciating pain. Far from fearing it, she welcomed its distraction. When Jim offered her more painkillers a couple of hours into the drive, she told him she was fine.</p><p>The drive was a few hours, surprisingly short considering how many days they'd been going. They'd kept away from main, exposed roads, so their path had been a bit roundabout. They also didn't drive nearly as fast as Jim was driving now.</p><p>Elena held back her tears as they pulled up to the facility. She'd tried so hard, and it had all been for nothing. If they could somehow solve everything, that would almost make it worse. They never would have had to run in the first place. If Michelle died, her death would be Elena's fault.</p><p>A team of two scientists came from the building wearing surgical masks and white lab coats; they removed Sam on a stretcher.</p><p>Elena opened the door on the other side, where Patrick slumped. He stirred and unbuckled his seat belt. "How long was I out?" He blinked a couple of times and jumped. "Where are we?"</p><p>She bit her lip. "We're at Tech United."</p><p>He lowered his voice. "We can still get out of here. We can—"</p><p>She shook her head and grasped his hand. "No, Patrick. I asked Jim to drive us here."</p><p>His eyes widened. "What on Earth is going on?"</p><p>"Sam's dying. And so are we."</p><p>"So we're giving up?"</p><p>"I don't have anything more to try, Patrick. I'm out of ideas. Sam's old families were no help, Michelle got hit in the head, Jeffrey betrayed us and let Tech United set a trap for us. Tech United thinks they can figure out what's wrong with Sam. We'd learned some things they didn't know, they know some things we don't. We're going to try to work together."</p><p>"They're going to kill him!"</p><p>"He's already dying."</p><p>They locked gazes for a moment</p><p>Just at that moment, a feeling of euphoria came over Elena. It felt like an enormous pressure had been relieved from her head and chest and stomach, and like a million needles that had been pressed into her skin had suddenly vanished. She let her breath out and almost grinned—her lingering worry wouldn't quite let the corners of her lips turn upwards.</p><p>Bliss came over Patrick's face as well. "You felt that, too?" he asked.</p><p>She nodded in confusion. "What was that?"</p><p>"I don't know. It was like . . . you know that feeling when you've been ice skating or something, so you've been wearing skates, then you take them off and put on your real shoes? That feeling all over."</p><p>She couldn't remember the last time she'd gone ice skating All she knew that the pain was gone. No, not all of the pain—the exhaustion, the muscle soreness remained, but she couldn't feel the pain from the anomalies.</p><p>Realization swept over her. "We've been in range of the anomalies for days."</p><p>"Of course."</p><p>She smiled wryly. "Not anymore."</p><p>Patrick jumped up out of the car. "You let them take him."</p><p>She said nothing. There was nothing to say.</p><p>He paced, his hands on his head. It was as if the pain clearing had suddenly awoken him to the gravity of the decision she'd made. "Elena, you <em>let</em> Tech United take him!"</p><p>"He's dying!"</p><p>"We were going to stop that! Michelle told you you had to solve this!"</p><p>Her breaths came ragged. "I—I couldn't!"</p><p>"You're smart, you were running tests, we were making progress—"</p><p>"I ran out of tests to run, Patrick! He couldn't control the flux, and it kept getting worse."</p><p>"So we did all of this for nothing. All the running, all the fighting, Michelle's injury . . ."</p><p>"I've been thinking the exact same things, Patrick, but what do you expect me to do?"</p><p>"Literally anything else!"</p><p>This wasn't him. The stress, the pain, the fear—all things he was so skilled at holding off—were finally getting to him. "Patrick, you <em>have </em>to listen to me. <em>I didn't want to do this</em>. They would have dragged us away if we hadn't gone with them."</p><p>"I didn't take you for a coward, Elena Holmes."</p><p>She grabbed his hand. "I <em>am</em> a coward. I've always been a coward. But this—this is the one brave thing I've managed to do. Sam's going to die, at the hands of the anomalies or at the hands of Tech United. If the anomalies killed him, even if I somehow survived, I wouldn't live in guilt. If Tech United kills him, I'll never be able to live with myself again. But this is his only shot. It's the only, <em>only</em> possible way he'll <em>live.</em>"</p><p>"It's a guarantee he'll die."</p><p>"If you're right about that, I'll have to live with that. But Patrick, there was <em>nothing</em> else I could do." She stopped for a quick breath, her mind racing. "What would you have done?"</p><p>Patrick fumed, silent for a few moments. "You're right," he said finally.</p><p>Elena breathed a sigh of relief.</p><p>"You're not a coward." He pulled his hand away. "I should have said, I didn't take you for a traitor."</p><p>He stormed away, and her legs locked, frozen. "Where are you going?" she managed to call after him.</p><p>"I'm going to find Sam. I'm going to be there for him."</p><p>She shook her head. "The pain alone—"</p><p>He whirled to face her. "Is that all you care about?"</p><p>"Patrick, listen to yourself! I'm just trying—"</p><p>"No. You. <em>You </em>listen to yourself." He stepped closer to her with each new statement. "Sam's a foster kid. He's been passed from home to home, and nothing ever quite worked for him. Not even <em>science</em> worked for him. He was scared, he was scared enough to pull in his powers to the point where he almost killed himself."</p><p>His expression softened for a moment. "But you and I, Elena. You and I made him feel like a superhero. For once in his life, he wasn't a specimen, he wasn't the demon-possessed boy, he wasn't the leftover camper that no one wanted to work with because he couldn't do anything right. He was special. And we were <em>training</em> him, not experimenting on him." His eyes narrowed once again. "At least, that's what I thought it was to you, too. That's what it was to him."</p><p>"But we failed."</p><p>"You don't know that. We didn't finish trying. He was fighting hard, Elena, he was getting better every day. I know, I know, the flux was getting worse. So what? He was going to learn."</p><p>She winced. "But the pain—"</p><p>"Would you shut up about that already? You and I were the only ones complaining about that. He wasn't. You know why? Because he was a superhero, and he believed he was strong enough to take it. And he was. We never wanted him to die, but better for him to die thinking he was a superhero than thinking we betrayed him like everyone else in his life."</p><p>"I wanted to help him!"</p><p>"You didn't want to help him. You just wanted to control him. When you couldn't do that, you gave up."</p><p>The words stung, sharper and deeper than anything else he had said. She breathed in to speak, but she couldn't. She had nothing left in her defense.</p><p>Patrick shook his head, sighing, and turned to walk toward the facility.</p><p>Jim returned from the building, passing Patrick as he went. He turned toward Patrick and started to say something, but Patrick ignored him and continued to trudge toward the building. Jim shrugged and jogged the rest of the way to Elena.</p><p>"My colleagues are ready for a collaboration meeting."</p><p>She nodded, her eyes still stinging.</p><p>"Hey. We're going to try to solve this, okay?"</p><p>Elena couldn't respond against the tightness in her throat. She simply followed him into the building.</p>
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<a name="section0037"><h2>37. Planck</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Elena sat numbly in the conference room, surrounded by a team of Tech United scientists, wringing her hands to try to work some feeling back into her fingers. She needed to focus on the mission at hand if they were going to have any hope of saving Sam, but Patrick's words kept ringing in her ears.</p><p>Because what he had said was true, in part. The pain had been difficult to deal with and it had influenced her, even if it wasn't her main reason for giving in. And his most biting words—that once she realized she couldn't control Sam, she had given in—was completely true, in a way.</p><p>But it wasn't cowardice or treason. It was the hardest decision she had ever made. She'd spent a lifetime walking away from things she couldn't control, but this wasn't like that. She wasn't walking away. She was asking for help. She was choosing her best chance of survival for herself and for her friends. She knew that Patrick and Sam would never forgive her for it. That if something went wrong, she'd never forgive herself for the part she'd played. She was choosing to ignore that for the time being. She couldn't control everything, couldn't understand everything, couldn't fix everyone on her own. For once—for once in her life—she accepted that.</p><p>Patrick also sat at the table. He'd arrived a few minutes after she had. He pointedly avoided her glances, and she imagined it had been a hard choice for him, whether or not to come to the meeting. Maybe he had finally realized the same thing she had: that they were Sam's best chance to live, and the more minds that could be gathered, the better.</p><p>Dr. Brooke, the scientist who had run tests on Elena a few days before—she could hardly believe it had only been a few days—gestured toward Elena. "Alright, everyone, this is Elena Holmes. She's had a chance to run tests on the subject as well as experience the effects of the anomalies firsthand, so she—"</p><p>"Kid." Patrick kept his arms crossed and leaned back in his chair.</p><p>Dr. Brooke blinked.</p><p>"He's not a subject. He's a kid."</p><p>"It's—I'm not—"</p><p>"It's just how they talk, Patrick," Elena said softly.</p><p>"I bet it is."</p><p>Elena sighed. "He just doesn't want us to forget we're talking about a child."</p><p>"Of course." Dr. Brooke straightened her coat. "Elena, would you like to share your findings?"</p><p>"You first," Patrick cut in again, glaring at Dr. Brooke. "We came to you. It's your turn to chip in."</p><p>Elena could have throttled him. For now, she just said, "Calm down, Patrick. I'm happy to share what I've learned."</p><p>Elena stood and picked up a whiteboard marker on the side wall. She pulled out her phone, where she had stored her data, and wrote up a few figures from the past couple of days. She walked them through everything she had learned: the flux measurements, Sam's ability to pull and push the effects of the anomalies in and out—she caught herself before she used the word "powers"—but how the flux always remained the same.</p><p>One Tech United employee slid forward in his seat as she finished her explanations. "Were you able to track any correlation between the signs of the perturbations and the affected radius?"</p><p>Elena translated for Patrick's sake. "Changing how much space was affected by the anomalies didn't seem to change which way the colors shifted."</p><p>"Then what did?"</p><p>"We don't know. It seems to be random."</p><p>"Chaotic system," he muttered, and tapped away at his tablet.</p><p>Elena shifted her weight from one foot to another. She looked toward Patrick, but he was still avoiding her gaze.</p><p>"And the flux is constant," Dr. Brooke said.</p><p>"Constant over the affected space, regardless of how far he pushes them out. Increasing exponentially over time."</p><p>"In response to . . ."</p><p>She shrugged. "It's as if the powers have been mostly dormant for the majority of his life."</p><p>"That's enough." Patrick glared directly at Dr. Brooke. "Your turn."</p><p>"You two are still calling him Sam."</p><p>"Yes. He prefers it."</p><p>"But his real name is Planck."</p><p>"Yes."</p><p>Dr. Brooke shook her head. "It's either one amazing coincidence, or whoever named him from birth knew what the anomalies were going to be."</p><p>Elena sank into one of the chairs. "You think it has to do with—" Realization washed over her. "Planck's constant. Of course."</p><p>"Planck's <em>what?</em>" This time Patrick did look at her, but only for a moment, as if he had forgotten that he wasn't supposed to be.</p><p>"Planck's constant," Dr. Brooke said. "The coefficient of proportionality between the frequency and energy of a photon."</p><p>"Elena?"</p><p>Elena almost smiled in spite of her situation. She turned to Patrick. "So . . . a photon is a particle of light, yeah?"</p><p>Patrick nodded. "I think they said that in my high school chem class, yeah."</p><p>"Okay. A photon is like a little packet of energy. Those little packets of energy get absorbed by our eyes, and that's how we see colors."</p><p>"Okay."</p><p>"Well, the amount of energy depends on the frequency of the light. You multiply frequency times Planck's Constant, and you get the amount of energy in each photon."</p><p>"Frequency?"</p><p>"Yeah . . ." This was going to be harder to explain than she had thought. "Okay. Light is a wave, right?"</p><p>"You just said it was a particle."</p><p>"Light is weird." She tried to boil it down in her mind to just the facts he needed to understand. "Okay. Let's go back a step. The colors we see depend on the amount of energy in the light. The amount of energy in the light depends on Planck's constant. Does that make sense?"</p><p>"The words you're saying make sense. But it doesn't match what we've been seeing."</p><p>"It does, though! The frequency of the light is staying the same, but the energy has been shifting. That's why we've been seeing all the colors looking off."</p><p>"But the <em>pain</em>."</p><p>Dr. Brooke scoffed. "Oh, of course there's been some discomfort. The absorbtion and emission of photons depends on the energy—"</p><p>"Elena," Patrick said.</p><p>This time she did smile. "You know how our eyes absorb those packets of energy to see?"</p><p>"Yeah."</p><p>"Our skin kind of does the same thing with sunlight and other types of light. And—" She pressed her lips together. How was she supposed to explain ionization energy to someone who had hardly known what a photon was thirty seconds ago? She wasn't even sure she should use the word <em>electron</em>.</p><p>Again, she tried to boil it down to only the facts he needed to know to move forward with the conversation. "It could cause our cells to become charged. That's why we've been shocking each other so much. It's just . . . all of the organs in our bodies depend on Planck's constant in one way or another. It's weird and complicated, but they depend on those energies being what we expect them to be. So if Sam's changing Planck's Constant in the region around himself—"</p><p>"It would change everything. It would mess up everything."</p><p>"It was enough to throw off our infrared cameras when we were first tracking you," Dr. Baker said.</p><p>Elena held back her smile. "So the last thing we don't know is what affects whether the energy increases or decreases."</p><p>"Our technicians are on it," Dr. Brooke said. "Sam's being monitored by a series of devices that should track the energy shifts as well as a myriad of other factors."</p><p>"Where is he?" Patrick asked.</p><p>"He's in an isolation chamber right now, out of range of—"</p><p>"He's <em>alone?</em>"</p><p>"It's okay, Patrick. It's just to protect everyone from the health effects."</p><p>"You know he can feel pain too, right? He's probably terrified!"</p><p>Dr. Brooke sighed. "He's scared of himself, not us."</p><p>Patrick's eyes fell closed, and his words from earlier crashed down on Elena. They hadn't been able to protect him from all harm or all fear, but they'd kept him from being afraid of himself. He'd believed he was a superhero. Now, finally, the reality of their exaggeration was surfacing.</p><p>No, not exaggeration. Sam was special. More special than they had ever hoped to explain to him. But far from making the choice between being the hero or villain of this story, he was nothing but the victim of forces he could never hope to control.</p><p>Well, almost never. There had been the time he pulled in his powers to take out the people who were coming after him. But there was no pretending the anomalies were anything but destructive, and he couldn't stop them all together.</p><p>She'd been wrong when she said the increases and decreases of energy were the only thing they didn't know. That was unimportant in comparison to the question of how to stop it. "What are we going to do to stop it?" Elena asked.</p><p>"To stop the anomalies?" Dr. Brooke shook her head. "Why would we want to stop them?"</p><p>"Because they're killing people."</p><p>"That's why we're keeping everyone out of range. As for Planck—you say he can push the powers in and out as he needs to survive."</p><p>"But if the flux continues to grow, he'll still die!"</p><p>"Ah, that's the other thing we discovered, though. Planck is much more biologically resistant to the effects of the anomalies than most other people. He would have to be, having lived at the epicenter his whole life."</p><p>"You're saying he <em>can't</em> die from the anomalies?" Patrick said.</p><p>"Well, I wouldn't say <em>can't</em>. But his body adapts. We're confident he has a lot more time than you think."</p><p>She shook her head. "Then why did he pass out when he pulled in his powers?"</p><p>"Shock. Would have knocked out anyone his age. He might have even thought he'd killed the people who passed out."</p><p>Elena winced. It didn't sound right to her. Even if he wasn't going to die, he was alone, afraid, and in a lot of pain.</p><p>Another scientist at the table shook his head. "Don't you realize this is bigger than any of us, Miss Holmes? This is <em>new</em>. Every scientific endeavor that's ever been has rested on the assumption that physics works the same everywhere in the universe. Planck changes <em>everything</em>."</p><p>It did change everything. In her fear she hadn't had the chance to reflect on it. Humans observed the universe from a tiny corner of a tiny galaxy and assumed everything worked the same everywhere, applied the rules they had determined in tightly controlled labs to places they'd never been. And under those assumptions, the rules worked. But Sam proved they were wrong. What else could they be wrong about?</p><p>The man smiled and shook his head. "You're starting to understand, aren't you?"</p><p>Elena took a deep breath. "I think I am."</p><p>"We thought we were slaves to the laws of the universe, but if they can be changed, they could be ours. We could harness them, control them to our advantage. We promised we wouldn't hurt him, and we won't. He holds the key to everything. Think of the applications, in weaponry alone . . ."</p><p>Elena's heart sank.</p><p>She should never have agreed to come here. Better to have let Sam die in peace than to bring him <em>here</em>.</p><p>Her eyes met Patrick's for just a moment. He sighed and hung his head.</p>
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<a name="section0038"><h2>38. Uncertainty</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dr. Brooke took Elena and Patrick back to the staff lounge. There was no one else in there. Sam's arrival had apparently given everyone a new task to occupy themselves.</p><p>Again, Patrick wouldn't look toward her, but this time she didn't blame him. She pulled out her phone, and in the moment before the screen lit up, she could hardly stand to see her own face reflected on the shiny surface. He had been right. Of course, he had been right.</p><p>She stared for a long time at the menu page on her phone. Michelle had told her she needed to solve this mystery, had believed she could. Elena had disagreed. Maybe she still disagreed. But if she was going to fulfill what she had said to Patrick, about not having been a coward, she couldn't become one now. She had to keep trying.</p><p>Because she wasn't going to let Sam die alone. If it came down to it, she'd go in there and be with him in his last moments. Even if it was torture. Even if it killed her. It was no less than she deserved.</p><p>A little voice in her head whispered that it had already come down to that. She had already failed.</p><p>If only she could have someone to bounce ideas off of. She'd loved to have been able to talk to Patrick, but he still wasn't even looking toward her. Besides, he wouldn't understand a word she said.</p><p>Her dad would have understood. She swallowed against the tightness in her throat.</p><p>She scrolled through her contacts. Her finger hovered over Michelle's number. Elena would have to confess what she had done, how wrong she had been. Patrick's disapproval stung; Michelle's might as well be evisceration. But she would find out what had happened sooner or later, assuming she was alive.</p><p>Assuming she was alive.</p><p>She finally hit the call button. It rang for eternity before Michelle's voicemail played.</p><p>Her contacts list reappeared. Right below Michelle's name was another she had barely talked to, despite Michelle's promptings: <em>Mom</em>.</p><p>This could be her last chance. She hit the call button.</p><p>Her mom picked up on the third ring. "Are you okay, Elena?"</p><p>Elena's eyes stung. "Mom." Her voice broke.</p><p>"What's wrong?"</p><p>"I'm stuck, Mom. I got myself in a bad situation, and if I can't get myself out of it . . ." A single hot tear rolled down her cheek. "I'm not going to make it."</p><p>"Where are you, Elena? I'm going to come get you. I'm coming right now."</p><p>"I don't think you can help me."</p><p>"I don't care. I'm coming to help you."</p><p>"It's—it's not that kind of thing. You can't solve this one."</p><p>"You're the last family I have, Elena, now tell me where you are!"</p><p>"You can't help me, Mom, not with this one!"</p><p>"Then why did you call me?"</p><p>"Just . . . to say I'm sorry. Sorry for blaming you for what happened to Dad. I know you were doing your best. And sorry I couldn't solve this problem I'm in right now. Sorry for leaving you."</p><p>"Elena, you listen to me." It was the voice Elena didn't dare ignore. "You're your father's daughter all the way through. You're brilliant, you can learn anything, solve anything, fix anything. But it gets tough and you give up and walk away, no matter what the consequences."</p><p>"It's not like that, Mom, it's—"</p><p>"No, I'm not done. I was never good with all those technical things you and your father loved, but I don't give up. I don't <em>ever</em> give up. Just this one, Elena, don't just be your father's daughter. Be mine, too."</p><p>She sniffled and wiped away her tears. "Okay, Mom."</p><p>"You come visit me when camp ends, okay? Don't just run off to the dorm. Come see me."</p><p>"Okay, Mom."</p><p>"Call me when you figure it out, okay?"</p><p>"Okay."</p><p>"Alright then."</p><p>Elena's hand shook as she lowered the phone. She glanced over at Patrick, who was still looking away from her, then lowered her phone to the table.</p><p>She could do this.</p><p>"I know you don't want to talk to me," she said.</p><p>He didn't respond.</p><p>She sighed. "I haven't given up trying to solve this thing. I think I can do it before they do anything crazy. But I can't do this alone."</p><p>He shifted just slightly, away from her.</p><p>"Look. I know you don't know much about science, but I don't know if that's the kind of help I need anyway. It's just . . . I've just got to be able to talk to someone. And Michelle's not picking up her phone."</p><p>Patrick still wasn't looking at her, but she could tell he was listening.</p><p>"So I'm just going to start talking." She took a deep breath. "Planck's constant isn't just for light and energy. It comes up in other places too. It came up a lot in the quantum class I had to take last semester. It's in the Schrodinger equation."</p><p>She couldn't explain quantum wave functions to Patrick, but she could break down the basics. "Quantum mechanics is weird. Like light. You know that a particle can be in more than one place at once? I mean, kind of. It's a probability thing. It's more like, a particle doesn't have a determined place."</p><p>He remained very still, as if waiting for her to go on.</p><p>"Okay, it's called the uncertainty principle. It's the idea that the more you know about where something is, the less you know about how fast it's going—or, like, how much energy it has, basically. But as soon as you measure exactly how fast it's going, you lose it, and now you don't know where it is anymore."</p><p>If Sam could lower Planck's constant, he could make it possible to measure particle locations and speeds more precisely, but she couldn't see the immediate applications of that. This wasn't time to be getting caught up in the magic of science, anyway. And Patrick didn't care.</p><p>"Sorry. Focusing again. You'd said earlier that it seemed like a crazy coincidence that Sam's powers just happened to be dormant his whole life and then come out of hiding when we met him. I mean, that's not how coincidence works, of course—we would never have noticed him if his powers hadn't come out at that moment, anyone could have been the first to notice them, we were just the ones who were there, nothing surprising or special about that—but that's not what you meant."</p><p>Patrick's nostrils flared.</p><p>Elena sighed. "The point is, you thought something needed to cause them to be dormant, or to come out of hiding. The more I think about it, the more I agree. I should have listened to you."</p><p>His expression softened, ever so slightly.</p><p>"Because if you think about it, they haven't been dormant his whole life. His parents knew what the anomalies were going to be, or they wouldn't have named him Planck. I mean, <em>that</em> would be one crazy coincidence, right? But it's not just that."</p><p>His eyebrows raised.</p><p>Even those subtle reactions were enough to help her thoughts flow more freely. "Sam's last foster home must have seen them taking effect, right? They even did some investigation into them. The anomalies must have gotten pretty bad, because his foster mom thought he'd been possessed by a demon."</p><p>She blinked a couple of times. "I guess we can't rule out demons, can we? We can't rule out anything. He could be an angel, or a demon, or an alien from an alternate universe. He could have been bitten by a radioactive mosquito. But it doesn't matter."</p><p>Patrick's brow furrowed.</p><p>"I mean, it matters to him, it matters on a much deeper level. It's where he came from. And it would be helpful information. But we don't have any good way of answering those questions right now, and if there is a way to stop the anomalies, it won't care what we know about where those anomalies came from."</p><p>She looked down at her hands and chuckled to herself. "Unless they're quantum. Like the uncertainty principle, right? The more you know about what it is, the less you can control—"</p><p>His eyes met hers.</p><p>She gasped. "I mean . . . no, there's no way."</p><p>"Low level powers his whole life, but every time someone tries to run experiments, they get worse. And if the people keep investigating, he just keep getting worse and worse—what did you say, exponentially?"</p><p>She bit her lip. "You think the anomalies are quantum."</p><p>"It fits."</p><p>It did, as far as she had seen, but they could come up with any number of crazy theories that fit. If they were on to something, though . . . She shook her head. "We'd notice. If we suddenly learned a huge new thing about the anomalies, they'd have suddenly grown increasingly erratic, the flux would have spiked, we'd probably hear—"</p><p>Alarms blared, and red lights flashed. The hallway outside the door came alive with running and shouting.</p><p>So it wasn't a coincidence: during that last conversation with Jim, every time she'd taken another step toward understanding, she'd felt like her headache was intensifying. It had felt that way because it really <em>was.</em></p><p>Elena and Patrick exchanged a glance, then she jumped up to follow.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey everyone! This is my first time publishing original work here (though I think this story reflects a lot of the themes, tones, and styles I would usually explore in fanfiction, even though it's not based on any fandom). I'd love to hear your thoughts!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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